From God of Lies to Lord of All Worlds

Chapter 186: The Troubles of an Elderly Pope

"The spirituality of these souls is quite impressive!" Bai Yang marveled as he gazed at the so-called "Thirteen Clans."

These members of the Vampire Race were, of course, living, breathing beings. It was just that before this, they had merely been data stored within the Core's database.

Through his shaping of the Underworld, Bai Yang completely reconstructed this data. Naturally, this process restored these individuals from their soul state, altering their identities and turning them into members of a millennial Vampire Race!

This was true fairness. It did not matter what these people were like before—male or female, good or evil. In Bai Yang's hands, they all underwent a complete reconstruction of their identities, transforming from "souls" reduced to mere data into Transcendent Beings upon this planet.

This was the method of a Creator God—creating from nothing and directly altering reality. Even if their existence was still a lie in a certain sense, it was an incredibly powerful form of evolution!

Aside from these souls that he had recycled, there was actually another batch of souls at his disposal. These were the souls of those who had left behind a name and legacy.

For instance, Evan, the indigenous Divine Warrior from the Americas, and his wife Laila. Or the veteran Lems Oconnor, who had already offered up his soul. Or Professor Tore Evans, who had recently passed away...

The souls of these individuals were also stored within the Core, becoming part of Bai Yang's collection, or rather, his treasure trove.

Compared to ordinary souls, these souls—who still had people remembering them—clearly underwent a brand-new transformation after the world of the dead was opened up.

They were far more condensed and possessed a tangible quality, an obvious result of being nourished by Wish Power.This allowed him to discover yet another way to utilize Wish Power. It truly was an omnipotent force, providing a sense of "what you see is what you get".

It seemed no inferior to ordinary God Power. In fact, within this world, it appeared even more extraordinary due to the collective will of the people!

Alvin was marveling at Bai Yang's design. "Crown, you actually finished designing an entire race in such a short amount of time? This is simply unbelievable..."

"There are even more unbelievable things. For example, right now, somewhere in the Vatican, records regarding the Vampire Race are slowly being generated. Furthermore, the legends of these ancient creatures will be left in the memories of certain elders!"

Bai Yang added casually, "This is the power one commands after embedding a divine fire into history. Keep monitoring the divine fire; the ignited history will even correct some errors we never anticipated!"

As time passed, the first divine fire he ignited had already begun to silently influence the entire world. That ignited history and every person affected by it became an indisputably real part of this timeline.

And every single action Bai Yang took fleshed out this reality with even richer details, making the originally illusory Divine Status of God incredibly real.

Unfortunately, this process could only be done little by little and could not be completed all at once. Otherwise, Bai Yang felt he could definitely forge more than ten super Divine Pantheons and then rely on their strength to launch a counterattack on the Dylan Continent!

But the current situation was not bad either. He actually thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of manipulating the world!

Moreover, given enough time and the capacity to accumulate resources, such a future would inevitably come to pass. He had absolute confidence in this!

"Since the power of the Vampire Race has already appeared, then the power belonging to the Church naturally must be taken out for a spin as well!" Bai Yang said with a beaming smile. "Our dear Pope seems to be lacking a force he can command as easily as his own arm. I think this is a fantastic idea!"

His gaze had already shifted toward the Vatican. He could clearly see that their dear Pope Mario had indeed been having a rather difficult time lately!

......

"Crown, yet another Cardinal has refused to obey the Vatican's orders and chosen to act independently!"

Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica.

Listening to the report from his subordinate, Mario nodded without a change in expression. "Alright, I understand. You may leave."

"Yes, Crown!" The messenger was also a Bishop, but in the presence of this Pope, he did not even dare to breathe too loudly.

This was because the elderly Pope was currently radiating a pure white light, letting everyone know that he had earned the favor of Transcendence.

This transcendent power naturally stemmed from the "Holy Cross Crystal" resting on Caroline's chest. This crystal had already been officially documented by the Vatican, hailed as a divine artifact on par with the "Holy Lance of Longinus" and the "Shroud of Jesus", because to a certain extent, it replaced the divine revelation of the Lord! Pope Mario was one of the individuals who had received this "divine revelation". Relying on his absolute Faith, he had obtained the power of the Precept known as "Bishop".

Caroline, of course, could not possibly possess the Precept of "Pope". After all, this was a power that only the Lord could bestow; not even Jesus could grant it.

Bishop was already the highest limit of the Precepts she could grant. Yet even so, within the entire College of Cardinals in the Vatican, only Mario and two others had passed the initial selection of the Precepts.

This greatly disappointed the staunch Pope. He could not understand how he—a man who had emerged from the jungles of South America and entered the Roman Catholic Church relying on liberation theology and the power of the Jesuits—could be more devout than these men who came from generations of believers.

These people spent every day in prayer and worship, accepting offerings from all over the world, yet they could not even pass the test of the Precepts?

Therefore, he straightforwardly stripped them of their positions. Under the watchful gaze of the Lord, no one could say this was wrong, and no one dared to say otherwise!

Mario gaining power was naturally a good thing. It meant his status was acknowledged by the Lord, allowing him to continue pushing his plans forward and carrying on with the reforms!

But even with true power, the news of the Lord's descent, and the soothing comfort of the Holy Light, the implementation of his reforms still encountered massive resistance.

After all, even if God Himself appeared before certain people, as long as He infringed upon their interests, they would not hesitate to open fire. This was the greedy nature of humanity.

Consequently, even Mario, who leveraged the Lord's descent to demand their adherence to the Bible, still suffered several hidden setbacks in certain areas.

Just like now. He had dispatched personnel to a certain region in northern Italy, notifying the Church Bishops there to prepare for reforms and assessments, but the outcome was already blatantly obvious.

To use a certain Chinese proverb, it roughly meant, "This is an absurd order, and I humbly refuse to obey!" Fully entrenched interest groups would likely try to put up a fight even if God descended to the mortal realm or Jesus was reborn, let alone in a situation that was not quite so threatening.

"Sigh..." Mario let out a somewhat regretful sigh.

Of course, he was not sighing out of disappointment. He was merely expressing regret that this old friend was about to be purged, and that his desire to render the Catholic Church clean and pure would have to be delayed once again.

Mario was a heavyweight in liberation theology. He might not have fought in guerrilla warfare back in the day, but he truly had no shortage of combat Monks and Nuns under his command. He knew exactly how rotten the current Catholic Church was.

Previously, he had lacked the opportunity, so he could only act like a tinkerer, beating around the bush and making minor patch-ups.

But now, everything was different. The Faith he had firmly upheld for eighty years had finally yielded a reward, and this world had finally welcomed the ultimate descent of the Messiah.

So, if he could not sweep the Church clean and restore its pristine clarity, he would not be Mario!

"I will settle the score with you all slowly. Every single one of you, every shepherd who has committed blasphemy against the Lord, shall become a sacrifice for this grand reform!" the elderly Pope declared slowly. Facing the Cross before him, he knelt down once again and began his prayers.

Under these circumstances, his Faith became even more resolute and concentrated. Naturally, this also caused his physical body to improve another fraction under the effects of the Precept.

Mario could feel that, despite being eighty years old, the power of the Precept allowed him to exert the physical strength of a forty-year-old. That was the Lord's reward for the devout, and a boost granted to every Bishop with pious Faith!

"Thou art the One, and Thou art the All..."

This was a very standard prayer, but to Mario, it felt incredibly novel, without a trace of tedium. If your prayers could receive a response and bathe you in the Holy Light, presumably not many people would ever feel bored by it.

At this moment, the radiance of his prayer seemed to merge with a certain statue in the room, and a faint sound of something shifting began to echo...

To Mario's significantly enhanced ears, this sound was as deafening as a massive, booming bell. He slowly finished his prayer before turning his gaze toward a specific relief sculpture on that side of the room.

It was a relief sculpture from the Renaissance period, depicting a scene of a priest locked in battle with a Demon. Mario paced over, wanting to take a closer look and see exactly what had happened!

Right at that moment, a Cardinal stepped into the room. "Crown, there is news from Milan!"

"Speak!" Mario rubbed his fingertips along the edge of the relief sculpture, yet his voice carried clearly into the Cardinal's ears.