novelraw Chapter 98 : The Struggle for Faith
Chapter 98 : The Struggle for Faith
Chapter 98: The Struggle for Faith
The moment her voice fell, Lilian extended her slender, fair right hand.
She pointed toward the edge of the plaza—where an ancient iron tree, long dead for many years with branches as hard as steel, stood silently.
「God said, desolation is not eternal; life shall be reborn.」
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As her words faded, a faint, nearly imperceptible glimmer of ghostly light flashed from her fingertip.
Immediately after, under countless pairs of watching eyes—
That tree, dead and withered for untold ages, began to show tiny traces of green on its cracked, rough bark, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
On its knotted branches, tender green buds, as if urged by an invisible hand, broke out and unfurled one after another.
What was even more unbelievable was that, in just a few breaths, those buds rapidly grew and bloomed.
What blossomed were no ordinary flowers, but clusters of radiant blossoms of light, shimmering with sacred brilliance.
The flowers swayed without wind, scattering drops of crystalline motes that sparkled dreamily in the air.
「A miracle! It’s truly a miracle!」
The first incredulous cry burst out from the crowd.
However, Lilian’s “miracle” had only just begun.
Her gaze shifted to the edge of the crowd, where several beggars were carrying a crude stretcher.
Upon it lay a young boy, his face ashen-grey and breathless—clearly one who had just recently passed away.
His family, grief-stricken beyond words, had come upon hearing rumors of a “divine messenger,” holding onto the final glimmer of desperate hope.
Lilian’s gaze fell upon the boy, tinged with a trace of 「compassion.」
「God said, death is not the end; the lost soul shall return.」
She slowly descended from the wooden platform, the crowd parting as if by an unseen force, opening a path for her.
She walked up to the stretcher, ignoring the frightened yet expectant gazes of the boy’s family.
Extending her forefinger, she lightly touched the boy’s cold forehead.
A strange wave, indescribable and mixed with the auras of both life and death, rippled out from her fingertip.
The plaza fell into a terrifying silence; everyone held their breath.
One second, two seconds, three seconds—
Just as the city guard Gongbu was about to sneer, believing this witch’s deceitful tricks had failed—
The boy’s grayish complexion rapidly faded, replaced by a flush of life.
His cold, stiff chest suddenly rose with a deep breath.
Then, his long eyelashes trembled, and the once lifeless eyes slowly and dazedly opened.
「A—Ah… Mama?」
The boy’s frail voice resounded like thunder across the deathly silent plaza.
「He’s alive! My son, you’re alive!」
The boy’s mother cried out with a heart-wrenching wail and threw herself upon him, weeping in joy.
「Dead and reborn! It’s a true miracle!」
「Praise the Divine Messenger! Praise the Kingdom of Sunlight!」
A surge of shock swept across the entire plaza like a tidal wave.
All doubt, anger, and mockery were utterly crushed in that instant.
In their place, arose boundless, fervent faith.
People cried and shouted, falling to their knees toward the wooden platform like waves of wheat swaying in the wind.
Even Gongbu—the city guard who had come with righteous fury and intent to question—
Now stood frozen in place, utterly dumbstruck.
The gloom and killing intent on his face had long been replaced by profound shock and trembling reverence that came from the depths of his soul.
As a cultivator of the Divine Power Realm, Gongbu’s insight was far beyond that of commoners.
When Lilian had revived the dead tree, making it bloom with light, he had been astonished, but still able to rationalize it.
If a Divine Power Realm cultivator proficient in wood-element arts exerted their full strength, perhaps they could barely achieve something similar.
However—to revive one who had no breath, whose life had already ended—this was utterly beyond his comprehension.
He was absolutely certain that the boy had truly been dead.
There was no deception.
Yet now, before his very eyes, he had witnessed the iron tree bloom and the dead come back to life.
These two miracles combined struck him with a force beyond imagining.
As one of the inner circle among Yutian’s high command, Gongbu knew better than anyone the so-called “miracles” performed by the Zanpu and the Grand Preceptor.
He knew full well that those two merely borrowed the name of the 「Kingdom of Sunlight」 to consolidate their worldly power—they were by no means true envoys of the divine.
They were false.
But there was one truth Gongbu never doubted: the supreme 「Kingdom of Sunlight」 was no myth—it truly existed.
He himself had once witnessed the grand centennial ceremony when the gates of the divine kingdom opened and divine radiance poured upon the world.
He had personally felt that majestic and irresistible holy power.
And now, what Lilian displayed—especially that resurrection power—its aura was eerily similar to what he had sensed back then, the very force of the Kingdom of Sunlight.
This was no illusion, no mere spell that any mortal could imitate.
This was real—power that defied common sense, power that could only come from the Kingdom of Sunlight itself.
In that instant, a world-shattering thought struck Gongbu’s mind like thunder—
Could it be—that this red-haired woman before him was the true envoy sent by the Divine Kingdom?
「Thud!」
Before countless eyes, the peak Divine Power Realm cultivator, the governor of White Elephant City—Gongbu, the very man who wielded both military and political power on behalf of the Zanpu—
Fell to his knees, bowing devoutly before the red-haired woman upon the platform.
He pressed his forehead to the ground, his voice trembling with awe and emotion.
「Divine Messenger above, this humble Gongbu, blind and ignorant, has offended the might of the divine. I beg your forgiveness! White Elephant City shall bask in divine grace, heed your command, and praise the Kingdom of Sunlight! Praise the Divine Messenger!」
As the city guard knelt, it was like lighting the final fuse.
The entire Sunlight Plaza became an ocean of faith.
Voices of praise rose like mountains and seas, shaking the heavens.
「Praise the Kingdom of Sunlight! Praise the Divine Messenger!」
Lilian looked upon the scene and performed more “miracles,” completely cementing her title as the Apostle of the Sunlight Kingdom.
But only Lilian knew—she had no such power to truly resurrect the dead.
It was merely a simple “Resurrection Spell.”
Of course, this resurrection was not real; it only made people believe someone had come back to life.
Its principle was simple: summon back the soul of the deceased and, using her spiritual power, anchor it within the body for a short time.
But once that spiritual power was exhausted, death would reclaim them.
Moreover, the spell’s conditions were exceedingly strict—anyone with significant cultivation could not be revived.
Only that child’s weak soul allowed her to bring him back for a few fleeting days.
And when this scene ended—
The name of “Apostle of Sunlight” Lilian spread like sacred wildfire, centered on White Elephant City.
Accompanied by the tales of iron trees blooming and the dead returning to life, her legend spread throughout the Kingdom of Yutian—
Especially across the prosperous and densely populated valley plains, where it began to surge and swell.
A hidden current began to rise—
crashing violently against the seemingly unshakable foundation of Yutian’s divine authority.