Divine Flame Crystal

Chapter 617 We Don’t Have to Rely on God

After Xingluo heard about it.

He didn't respond, nor did he publicly stop it, because he knew that none of this was under his control.

It was a subconscious response, a backlash of the entire race against the constraints of theocracy.

A refugee in rags said outside a small roadside temple:

"I don't need another god to rule over me. But I need someone to convince me that I wasn't born to be enslaved by a god."

Late one night, Xingluo climbed up the tower of Meteorite Castle alone and looked at the faint lights of the town in the distance.

Behind him, Mo whispered, "You have become a faith."

Xingluo was silent for a moment, then said:

"No, I just lit the fire. How it burns and how long it lasts is their business."

He remembered what his magic teacher at Luoshen Academy once said:

“The real magic is not in reciting the spell, but in making you believe: beneath the spell, it is your choice.”

Today, this sentence seems to have become a new law in the other world.

People no longer needed blessings; they began to create their own hope.

The gods were still above, but the falling stars, through a war, uncovered the gods' divine shell, allowing humans to realize for the first time:

It turns out that we don’t have to rely on God.

Tiffany finally realized that the problem was far more than just a military defeat.

She sat at the highest altar in the Temple of Light, her eyes cold as frost, draped in a robe woven of holy light, divine power surging around her like cold flames. But this day, she was no longer surrounded by believers kneeling on one knee, but rather by gazes filled with hesitation, wavering, and even—rebellious.

This is an emergency closed-door meeting.

Those present were all the highest echelons of the Holy See of Light: seven cardinals, three masters of the Knights of Light, and more than a dozen elders and scholars with absolute authority in theology and doctrine.

Tiffany stood up and glanced at everyone. Her tone was calm, but murderous intent was hidden in it:

"Xingluo must die within seven days. If this tumor of faith is not completely burned, the light will bleed forever."

Her voice was like thunder, carrying an undeniable pressure. But after a moment of silence, the first bishop stood up.

He was an old man with white hair and beard, wearing a shining silver chain, and of very high status.

He looked at Tiffany, his tone very firm:

"Although he is a heretic, he has awakened the human will. You call it danger, but I see hope. If the light cannot tolerate awakening, it would have long since left the light."

The air suddenly became stagnant.

In this temple that once unified the continent's faith for a thousand years, public questioning of the "will of God" appeared for the first time.

Tiffany's expression changed slightly.

But before she could retort, the second bishop stood up—a female bishop from the East.

"I saw the burning gods in the four border cities. I thought it was fear, fanaticism, but when I heard them chant 'I will not kneel to the gods,' I felt a resonance within me."

"Didn't we teach them that? The way of light allows mortals to strengthen themselves, not rely on others."

The third person to stand up was a bishop who had served as an advisor to the Vatican's expeditionary forces. He looked at Tiffany calmly and said:

"You say he brought heresy. But I ask you - who first placed God above humanity? Who turned faith into a tool of judgment?"

Tiffany finally spoke, her tone like a sharp blade emerging from a crack in the ice:

"It is I, the Chosen One, the Light itself."

Three days later, the first bishop rebellion in hundreds of years broke out within the Holy See of Light.

This rebellion was not an armed seizure of power, but a break in faith.

Two important temples, Saint Vic and the Altar of Eternal Light, declared "temporary neutrality", suspended all campaigns against heretics, refused to carry out Tiffany's hunt, and jointly issued a declaration:

"If God does not allow people to speak, then light can no longer be trusted."

These words shook the entire continent.

What was even more unexpected to Tiffany was that a secret letter appeared in Moonfall Castle——

A neutral bishop secretly sent a message to Xingluo, expressing his willingness to cooperate: "It's not for submission, but for the pursuit of truth. We want to know whether the source of divine power truly belongs to God."

Tiffany was furious.

She finally resorted to the most terrifying method in the Holy See - the Judgment of the Divine Envoy.

She personally summoned the name of the God of Light and convicted the three bishops of "treason" for being "renegade" and publicly executed them in front of the great altar.

The three bishops did not resist, but walked quietly to the statue.

When he was about to be executed, the bishop looked up at the towering statue and whispered to himself:

"We have worshipped God our entire lives, and He consumes our doubts with fire... This is not a response, it is fear. Perhaps... that young man is right—God is unkind."

The flames fell and the three bishops turned to ashes.

Their confessions were not read, but they left an indelible rift within the Vatican.

Afterwards, Tiffany dispatched the Holy Inquisition Knights south to the imperial capital to suppress the divisive rhetoric that was gradually emerging among the bishops.

She issued an order: "Anyone who questions the legitimacy of theocracy will be brought back for trial immediately."

The empire was in a panic.

The clergy fell silent. Even the priest who once held the pulpit remained silent. Some students from the Doctrine Academy even fled en masse to study at Moonfall Castle.

The entire Temple of Light became silent and deserted, as if people no longer dared to ask questions. Because they knew: if you doubt God, God will burn you.

It turns out that the so-called "God's mercy" is just a reward when you obey.

Late that night, an elderly bishop wrote these words in his private notebook:

"We worshipped God our entire lives, yet were burned to death for a single hesitation. Xingluo was imprisoned, framed, and hunted down simply for questioning God's absoluteness. The light now lies not in faith, but in rule."

"If God is light, then why is He afraid of the truth? If God is love, then why can't He tolerate questioning?"

"I'm afraid that the one we worship is not a true god."

This text was later secretly taken out by a monk and engraved on a piece of volcanic rock, becoming one of the "God-Burning Stele" and now exists in the main fortress of the Human Freedom Alliance.

At this time, Tiffany was still calm, but she felt more and more lonely.

She stood on the highest floor of the Temple of Light, overlooking the night fire of the imperial capital, with the altar behind her that she had cleaned with her own hands.

No bishop dared to look her in the eyes.

And she knew that the failure of that war was not just a military loss, but a complete resurgence of faith.

Xingluo didn't say a word, but people began to ask a question that was once forbidden:

“Is God really worthy of being feared?”

Faith is no longer a magnificent temple or an intricately carved scroll, but has begun to become a murmur in the night and a lamp that refuses to go out.

The Holy See of Light is no longer a monolithic entity.

It began to loosen, crack, and peel. Beneath the cracks, there was not darkness, but fire.

It was a cold evening. The wind blew through the ruined temple, lifting the corners of the star-fallen portrait and gently slapping it against the half-collapsed doorpost.

Outside the Falling Moon Castle, an unknown bard stood in front of the collapsed statue of the God of Light and nailed a portrait of a fallen star to the door frame with rusty iron nails.

The portrait was drawn with rough charcoal, with crooked lines and blurred features. The only clear thing was his figure holding up a scepter and covered in flames. Behind him was not divine light, but a sea of fire and the people.

Below the portrait, the poet wrote:

"God will not respond to us, but Starfall will fight alongside us."

This sentence was quickly seen, imitated, copied, and passed on by word of mouth.

It spread into the villages, into the marketplace, into the dark corners of the church ruins.

After that day, the old temple ceased to be a place of worship and became a new gathering place. People no longer bowed to the statues, but gathered around the fire, listening to each other's stories of the human magician named "Xingluo", how he used mortal power to block angels, repel the church, and expose the hypocrisy of the gods.

From then on, a new "belief" quietly sprouted among the people.

It has no doctrine, no hierarchy, no orders or rites of atonement, not even a name.

It has only one common belief:

"Humanity shouldn't always prostrate itself before gods."

In the North, the third ceremony of light.

This was a large-scale public ceremony intended by the Vatican to "restore faith," gathering thousands of believers for a ceremony in the Holy Light Valley, presided over by the High Priest himself. According to the plan, a divine messenger would descend to reaffirm the will of the God of Light.

However, when everyone bowed their heads in prayer, a young believer wearing a coarse linen robe and with a dusty face suddenly walked up to the altar.

He faced the crowd, raised his hands, and shouted hoarsely and enthusiastically:

"I wish to burn myself into fire and illuminate the mortals!"