There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

"It was usable before, until the last time it rained, sewage from the sewer overflowed into the toilet..."

"Stop talking." Knight Myron's lips twitched as he interrupted the Pope.

"Ahem." The Pope coughed lightly twice, his expression tightening again. He said, "I've already secretly modified the patrol route. In any case, it's always good to be more careful."

"In short, I'll find a reason to get you to work with Yorick during the day, and then I'll use another method at night."

“Alright, we don’t have anything else to do anyway.” Lu Qing nodded and agreed to the Pope’s request.

"Your Highness, thank you for your trouble." The Pope smiled, then looked at Yorick in the distance and said, "Bishop Yorick, could you please come here for a moment?"

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Yorick glanced at Lu Qing and Knight Myron, then turned his gaze to the Pope.

"Hmm... Could you please show Her Highness the cathedral around? You know she'll be coming here often in the future," the Pope said, revealing the reason he had prepared beforehand.

Princess, who possesses the blessing of the sacred tree [psychic abilities], is destined to become the Holy Maiden of the Hongli Sam Church. When he grows old and becomes completely immobile, Princess will take over his position.

Both logically and emotionally, Her Highness needs to be familiarized with the rules and procedures of the church, but he is currently very busy and cannot spare the time. Furthermore, Her Highness's status is very noble, so a suitable candidate must be found.

As it happened, Yorick had met the princess during the psychic ritual, so it was perfect for him to escort her.

"..." After hearing the Pope's words, Yorick looked at Lu Qing with calm eyes, nodded and said, "I understand."

"Please come with me." He stretched out his hand to Lu Qing, then turned and walked towards the door.

This wasn't exactly rude, but it wasn't particularly enthusiastic either. It seemed that showing the princess around the church was really just a task for Yorick.

To be honest, Lu Qing didn't think Yorick seemed like an undercover agent. After all, his personality seemed to be, how should I put it, detached from worldly desires.

He seemed to have no interest in anything. Even as the bishop of Honlisam, he had no religious faith in the sacred tree and simply treated his position as a job.

Hmm... I wonder how someone like that became a bishop. Maybe it's because he's very familiar with the Pope?

Shaking her head, Lu Qing followed Yorick thoughtfully.

------------

Chapter 518: The X Cult is Disgusting

Lu Qing and Knight Myron followed Yorick and were soon led to a large hall.

Upon entering the hall, Lu Qing subconsciously squinted. Compared to the rather dimly lit corridor, this hall was incredibly bright. She looked up and saw a glass dome with intricate foliage patterns carved on its surface. Under the sunlight, these patterns shimmered with a glassy hue, looking absolutely beautiful.

The bright, almost blinding light in the hall came from the dome. Lu Qing's eyes quickly adjusted to the light as she looked at the scene in the center of the hall.

The first thing that catches the eye is a thick tree, about twelve or thirteen meters tall, and below the tree is a green lawn with neatly stacked white stone bricks along its edge.

Outside the white stone bricks, the clear spring water rippled slightly, reflecting the sunlight scattered from above the dome. A few priests stood scattered around the edge of the spring, bowing their heads in prayer.

Lu Qing looked around and found that, in addition to the priests, there were also some commoners from the city sitting on neat wooden chairs in the hall, praying with their eyes closed.

"This is the Hall of Roots, used for prayer. The tree you see is actually a tiny branch of the sacred tree that extends from the far edge."

“We used magic to make her grow leaves, making her look like a real tree, but she’s actually just roots,” Yorick said expressionlessly, looking at the roots of the sacred tree before him.

The object of prayer is the roots of the sacred tree, so it's called the Hall of Roots? That's quite a straightforward name... Lu Qing thought to herself after hearing Yorick's words.

"Was she deliberately altered like this by you?" Lu Qing asked curiously.

“Hmm.” Yorick nodded and said without hesitation, “It’s impossible to carve a miniature version of the Sacred Tree statue. Even carving an ordinary tree would be very difficult. It would be better to bring the roots of the Sacred Tree directly over. Anyway, the capital is so close to the Sacred Tree, so we might as well make good use of it.”

"As for making it like this, it's just for aesthetics. After all, if it looks good, more people will be willing to pray or donate money to the church."

“Yorik, there are civilians here. Aren’t you afraid of being overheard?” A woman dressed in the robes of the Honlisam Church couldn’t help but say after hearing what Yorick had said.

“They can’t hear me because I cast a soundproofing spell long ago,” Yorick said, turning to look at the woman after hearing her voice.

"...Have you forgotten that spellcasting is forbidden in the Root Hall?" The woman took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead.

“As long as nobody knows,” Yorick said, seemingly unconcerned.

"I already know..."

The woman shook her head, deciding that it was best not to continue discussing this topic with Yorick, so she turned to look at Lu Qing and Knight Myron.

“…” As soon as she turned her head, she saw the crown on Lu Qing’s head, and her breathing became rapid. The words she was about to say were swallowed back down.

"Hello, Your Highness, um, I hope I haven't disturbed you?" the woman said, looking somewhat nervous.

Yorick frowned, then said, "I was explaining the cathedral's layout to Her Highness the princess. To be honest, you're disturbing me..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Qing interrupted him, saying, "It's no trouble at all. It's good to get to know more priests."

"Phew." Upon hearing Lu Qing's words, the woman subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately replied, "Thank you for your understanding. I still have work to do, so I'll take my leave now."

After speaking, the priestess fled as if her life depended on it. Seeing her leave, Lu Qing asked Yorick with some curiosity, "Who was that just now...?"

“That’s Bishop Kera, my colleague. But since she’s only recently become a bishop, she’s still getting used to the job,” Yorick explained to Lu Qing.

"I see. So, where do we go next?"

"Next, I will take you to the library..."

......

Half a day passed quickly as Yorick showed Lu Qing and Knight Myron around the cathedral. However, just as Yorick had led Lu Qing through every part of the cathedral, a commotion arose from the front of the corridor.

"What happened?" Lu Qing asked curiously, looking ahead. However, as soon as she finished speaking, a pungent smell of blood filled her nostrils.

"Something's happened!" Knight Myron had obviously smelled the blood too. He and Lu Qing exchanged a glance and quickly walked over. Seeing this, Yorick followed quietly behind.

When they arrived at the destination, Lu Qing discovered that the Pope was also there. He was standing solemnly in front of a door, and the pungent smell of blood was coming from behind that door.

"What happened?" Knight Myron strode up to the Pope and asked directly.

"Someone has been attacked." The Pope paused for a moment after seeing Knight Myron, then immediately replied.

"What's going on?" Lu Qing also came to the Pope's side and asked.

“I don’t know.” The Pope shook his head and explained, “Here’s what happened: I heard from Bishop Kella that she had arranged to go to the library with Bishop Ralph to look up some information.”

"But when she arrived at the place, she found that Bishop Ralph was not there. After waiting for a while, Bishop Kella thought that Bishop Ralph had forgotten about the matter, so she asked someone to inquire about Bishop Ralph's location."

"And then she opened the door to find that Bishop Ralph had been murdered?" Sir Myron raised an eyebrow and asked.

The Pope did not speak, but simply nodded. After a moment of silence, a priest came out of the room, his face somewhat pale, and looked at the Pope, saying, "The scene has been examined and confirmed to be the work of the Guiji Sect. There are still some traces of void erosion remaining inside."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work." The Pope nodded, then looked at Lu Qing and said, "If you are going to go in, please be mentally prepared."

"I understand." Looking at the pale face of the priest in charge of the survey, Lu Qing could roughly guess how bloody the scene inside was.

The four men entered the room and immediately saw Bishop Ralph's body...

"These cultists are disgusting!" Knight Myron exclaimed, nearly losing his composure upon witnessing the scene before him.

Before his death, Bishop Ralph's body seemed to undergo some kind of drastic change. His original limbs contracted and degenerated, turning into four tentacles with five small branches. On those five small branches were eye organs that had grown halfway.

His body, except for his face, was all constricted and twisted together, as if it had been squeezed together by some enormous pressure.

In addition, his body may have suffered some kind of high-temperature burning from the inside out, with charred, semi-solidified flesh and blood everywhere. Just one look at this scene is enough to drive anyone mad.

------------

Chapter 519: Burning Lav

"Are all the people from the Void Cult like this?" Lu Qing's eyes twitched twice, and she subconsciously took a step back. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt as if the lump of flesh on the ground was still writhing.

"Burn Bishop Ralph's body," the Pope said, waving his hand to the priests behind him. Although he felt somewhat sorry for Bishop Ralph, the body was already in such a state that it clearly could not be kept any longer.

There might still be some curses or plagues left on it, so we must be careful.

"Report this to the guards and have them send men to seal off the cathedral." After thinking for a moment, the Pope added two more sentences.

"I understand." The priest nodded, then looked at Bishop Raf's corpse with a somewhat horrified expression before leaving the room without looking back.

“Let’s go find Bishop Kella and see if she knows anything else,” the Pope said, turning and walking towards the door.

"Okay." After hearing the Pope's words, Lu Qing nodded and quickly followed behind him. After leaving the room, the Pope looked at Yorick, who was standing at the door, and asked, "Bishop Yorick, is there anything you need to do next?"

“No.” Yorick shook his head and said, “I have finished all the work I needed to do today. If possible, I hope to take a good rest for a while.”

After a pause, Yorick looked at the Pope who was silently looking at him and said, "But you are the Pope, so you have the final say."

“Very good, I knew I could rely on you at a time like this.” The Pope smiled and then said, “Please summon all the bishops and priests in the church to the Hall of Roots. I need to use the power of the roots of the sacred tree to investigate traces of the void.”

"I understand." Nodding, Yorick walked away down the corridor without looking back.

“…” Lu Qing looked at Yorick as he walked away, then at the Pope, and hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

"Are you wondering why I let Yorick leave?" the Pope asked, seeing through Lu Qing's thoughts.

"Hmm, didn't you ask us to monitor him before?" Lu Qing nodded, asking with some confusion.

“Because I only suspect, not confirm.” The Pope looked at the spot where Yorick had disappeared and continued, “And regardless of whether Yorick is an undercover agent or not, he will definitely carry out the task I assigned him.”

"Let's go find Bishop Kera," the Pope said, turning and walking down the corridor.

Knight Myron glanced at the priests who had sealed the room, then looked at the Pope and said, "Didn't you say that Bishop Kella was the first to discover Bishop Ralph? Why isn't she here?"

"She is in the infirmary now." After hearing Sir Myron's words, the Pope said, "When Bishop Kella opened Bishop Ralph's door, she was cursed by the ritual circle behind the door. The information I received actually came from the priest who came with Bishop Kella."

"A curse array..." Upon hearing the Pope's words, Lu Qing recalled the knowledge she had learned in the past few days.

Curse spells are generally not very powerful; their effects are mainly to weaken and torment, and the conditions for casting them are very demanding. The only advantage of this type of spell is its stealth.

Curse spells have only a tiny fluctuation of spiritual energy, and are almost undetectable when cast. Once they hit a target, the curse becomes as difficult to remove as a bone-deep infection. Most importantly, these spells automatically regenerate energy to maintain their existence, so the caster does not need to continue to maintain their energy consumption.

This is precisely why most people, after being cursed, cannot find the person who cast the curse, which is utterly disgusting.

So here's the question: why doesn't anyone learn such a useful spell?

The first reason is that most curse spells are not fatal and are mainly used to torture people. The second reason is that it is too difficult for this thing to hit the target.

Some curses require direct contact with the face, while others require the user's hair or blood. Don't think you can just pick up a few strands of hair from the ground; what kind of curse can you cast with that little bit of hair? At most, it might make someone sneeze.

Besides the two points mentioned above, there's a third: this thing is just too hateful. What might be a minor conflict can instantly escalate into a life-or-death feud with the addition of a curse...

Having discussed curse spells, let's talk about curse circles. This is an improved version of curse spells. It can be fixed in certain locations and applied as a curse after being triggered, thus avoiding contact with people.

The organization that invented the curse array using curse magic is... the Guiji Sect.

That's right, this thing was developed by the Guiji Cult. In addition to the regular curse spells, these Guiji cultists, whose minds are full of emptiness, added the void element to the original curse spells.

This resulted in most of the curses cast by the Silent Cult being related to the void, with a mortality rate far exceeding that of traditional curses. Those who died from these curse arrays... for details, please refer to Bishop Raff, who is currently being transported for cremation...