Divine Flame Crystal

Chapter 623 Humans Must Learn to Think

Many old men who were originally kneeling on the steps of the temple stood up hesitantly; many priests lowered their heads, not daring to look at the believers.

Two archdeacons of the Holy See even took off their holy emblems and threw them into the pool of holy fire.

"We're not atheists," Xingluo said. "We're against the proxy system. We just don't want our lives and deaths to be decided by a few people who claim to hear the voice of God."

"You can believe in God." He pointed to his chest, "but you have to learn to talk to Him yourself."

Priesthood is no longer sacred, but a profession; faith is no longer awakening, but a business. The Church of Light has already been doing this, and what is the difference between it and our current Flaming Hammer? If anything, the Church of Light is even more hypocritical, its methods are despicable, and it treats human life as worthless.

This was the second bomb dropped by Xingluo at a symposium at Salir College in the North three days after his "Deconstruction of Faith" speech.

Tiffany was furious and ordered a complete blockade of all Sky City-related content and issued a wanted notice for the dissemination organization to which Xingluo belonged. However, she had not anticipated that Xingluo had already laid out his plan—he was not the one directly disseminating the content, but the one who constructed the dissemination system.

He published a large number of pamphlets such as "Faith and Freedom", "Source of Oracle", and "People and Agency" through the Flame Hammer Chamber of Commerce's store "Wind Whispering Kite Publishing House", and distributed them to towns across the country through the magic postal bird system in the name of "free books".

The most outrageous thing is that he also organized a talk show called "The Most Unreliable Priest Competition", in which contestants had to imitate high-ranking priests of the Vatican and make up oracles on the spot. The one who got the most laughter from the audience would win.

The first place winner imitated Tiffany herself.

As a result, the number of views exceeded one million as soon as the program was released.

The crowd laughed so hard that they fell over.

And inside the Vatican... there was dead silence.

"He's no longer an opponent," Tiffany said in a deep voice during a closed-door meeting.

"What is he?"

One of her attendants asked in a low voice.

Tiffany gritted her teeth and uttered three words:

"Thought criminal."

This is exactly what makes Xingluo so terrifying—he has moved beyond the realm of war and into the realm of ideological conquest.

He did not simply defeat the Church of Light. Instead, through precise strikes one after another, he made the Church prove itself false and caused the faith itself to begin to waver.

Tiffany will attempt a final counterattack - calling the "Illuminating Divine Manifestation Ritual" in an attempt to forcibly awaken the power of the gods. And Xingluo will also lay out his final "unveiling plan" behind the scenes.

The cornerstone of the faith of the Holy See of Light is not God, not the law, nor the people, but miracles.

As long as the miracles exist, they can continue to rule.

This is Tiffany's last hope.

She announced that she would hold an unprecedented "divine manifestation ceremony" at the Tower of Holy Light - gathering clergy from all dioceses on the continent, and calling on the Lord God to appear together through the "Holy Light Chain Array" in order to respond to the world's doubts and blasphemies.

The entire Church of Light has mobilized its most powerful mages and priests. Gathering clergy from every diocese on the continent, they will collectively summon the Lord God through the "Holy Light Chaining Array" to manifest, addressing the world's doubts and blasphemies. The ceremony, scheduled for three days from now at the summit of Holy Light, is expected to draw three thousand participants. The priesthood will include two Silver Paladins and dozens of priests of light. Starfall is secretly preparing to expose the Church's hypocrisy at the crucial moment of the ceremony and completely shake the foundation of its faith.

Hundreds of priests stood on the top of the mountain in formation, and seven thousand Holy Knights began to pray synchronously in temples across the country. Hundreds of golden beams of light rose from the sky, and the sea of ​​clouds rolled, as if divine punishment was approaching.

Tiffany stood on the top of the tower, holding the glorious scepter high in both hands, her golden robe fluttering in the wind.

She stared coldly ahead—the entire continent was watching this moment.

"The gods will respond to us," she said, her voice spreading through the ears of millions of people through the power of sound illusion, "and will respond to the arrogance of that blasphemer with miracles."

The blasphemer she was talking about was, of course, Xingluo.

However, what she didn't expect was that Xingluo was right under the tower.

"I'll see for myself," he said, sneaking underground with Mo, Candice, and the "Mist Dragon," "who will be revealed."

The core of the "Holy Light Chaining Array" is a "Heart of Revelation" buried under the Holy Light Tower. It is said to be a fragment of the divinity left behind after the fall of the ancient gods, but in fact it is just a divine flame crystal.

It is this fragment of the divine nature that constructs the "divinity" system of the entire Church of Light: it can not only respond to prayers, but also simulate miracles for a short period of time.

In other words, this is not a true divine revelation, but rather an extreme abuse of technological illusion.

The structural diagram of this divine heart was deconstructed by the "Spider Team" of the Yueyue Intelligence Organization half a year ago.

At this moment, Xingluo and the two master craftsmen of the Flame Hammer were working together tacitly beside the underground sealing formation:

"Come, install this 'sonic resonance core'. Remember, set the amplification factor to 20."

"Tear off this layer of illusion coating... yes, remove the entire original 'divine light filter'!"

"Mo! Is the audio rune engraved?"

Momian nodded expressionlessly. "It's all engraved. Just as you requested, I recorded your exact words in the tavern the day before yesterday: 'The Holy See of Light is a bankrupt organization.'"

Xingluo gave a thumbs up: "Perfect."

Three minutes later, the "divine manifestation ceremony" finally reached its climax.

Thousands of people knelt down, the golden light was blinding, and everyone held their breath.

Tiffany raised her staff and roared:

"Lord God! Please show your divine power—let the world understand that faith is eternal!"

The golden light in the sky suddenly stagnated, and then, an unprecedented "divine sound" sounded from the sky -

But that is not the divine language, nor is it the gift of the Lord God.

But it is - the sound of falling stars.

"Hello fellow believers of the Light, I am the special host of this divine manifestation, Sky City Starfall."

"Excuse me for interrupting, I just switched channels and took over your 'divine manifestation signal'."

"Next, let us reveal the mastermind behind this miracle—come, please look at the screen."

Suddenly, images appeared in the air:

The clergy of the Church of Light worked behind the scenes to draft the oracle;

Funi personally revised the "God's Punishment List" to add dissidents;

Miracle branches in various places use fake "divine powder" to create illusions;

At the bottom of the Tower of Holy Light, seven magicians were rehearsing light and shadow illusions for a miracle.

All the images were shot with the "Starfall Shadow Ball" high-definition lens and there is no trace of modification.

The entire audience was shocked. Priests knelt down and believers screamed. The Paladins in the distance were in chaos. Some tried to shut down the Holy Light Tower's beam device, but found that it had been reversed.

The City in the Sky has already taken over the core of faith.

"Your Lord God cannot speak, so I will tell you something on his behalf—"

The voice of Xingluo echoed again:

“Don’t trust an agent, become a god yourself.”

On the second day, the "Shenxianmen" incident swept the entire continent.

The credibility of the Holy See of Light collapsed, and believers left in large numbers. Some cities even burned down churches and converted them into "Free Citizens' Colleges."

Tiffany was forced to flee back to the Sanctuary and convene an emergency clergy meeting, trying to whitewash herself by saying "this was a forged illusion cast by Xingluo."

But no one listened anymore.

She looked at the charred prayer square from the top of the Holy Light Tower. Those who should have been bowing their heads in worship were now setting up stalls selling candied haws at the foot of the steps, laughing and cursing. No one believed in her God anymore.

"I lost?" she murmured.

"It's not you who lost, it's the system of the Holy See of Light that lost." A familiar voice came from behind - Xingluo stood in the wind, still looking frivolous.

She pulled out her scepter and roared, "You are not a god! You are just a street thug who fights with his mouth!"

Xingluo smiled and slowly approached:

“But I live and walk among the people.”

"That god of yours...is unwilling to even stand up."

He walked past her and whispered:

"Faith shouldn't come from fear. It should come from choice."

After the collapse of Holy Light, the Holy See of Light announced reforms, abolished the power of clergy agency, and submitted the "Faith Autonomy Agreement" to the Free Alliance.

Xingluo did not attend the signing ceremony in person. He sat on the top of the floating tower of Sky City, looking at the sky full of rosy clouds.

Mo came over and handed him the agreement.

Xingluo didn't answer, but pointed to the distance:

"You said... Will Pandora see today?"

Mo: "Isn't she always watching?"

Xingluo was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Yes, she said that she believes I can do it."

He looked down at the divine flame crystal in his palm. The light slowly faded, as if it had completed some mission.

The faith of the Holy See of Light collapsed, not because God died, but because people learned to think.