diskusbooks Chapter 317 Blood God Cult Imitation Competition
Chapter 317 Blood God Cult Imitation Competition
Chapter 317 Blood God Cult Imitation Competition
The underground tomb was deathly still and filled with the stench of decay. The candlelight flickered, casting a distorted shadow on the wall.
Dressed in a magnificent robe and wearing a crown, the pope remained expressionless, and the echo of his footsteps resonated clearly in the passageway.
He stopped only upon entering a tomb chamber. His previously expressionless face became distinctly respectful. He murmured twice, then bowed his head and said, "Your Excellency, we have failed."
The brick-walled tomb chamber was dark and cramped, containing nothing but a stone coffin in the center.
The imagery of death is condensed to its extreme here; no living being would want to stay here, not even the Pope of Life who visits.
After the Pope of Life finished speaking, he waited for about one or two minutes before the stone coffin slowly began to move.
First came a sound like fingernails scratching glass, which was unsettling. Then came a hoarse voice that easily evoked images of withered trees.
"I understand. For now, let's hold back and not make any big moves... We're running a bit short on offerings lately, you know what to do."
"Once I fully recover, everything will be alright."
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...Yes, as you wish.
The Pope of Life kept his head down the entire time, and he maintained this posture until he left.
Now that things have come to this, he has no other choice but to go down this path to the bitter end, trusting in the immortal one in the graveyard.
If it were before the other plans failed, he wouldn't have needed to rely entirely on that one person, but the problem is that all the plans were ruined, and the Blood God Cult somehow unearthed the church's heritage and created a sanctuary.
Under immense pressure, he had no choice but to stake his entire fortune on that one person.
"That one needs offerings again, where am I supposed to find so many that meet the requirements?"
The Pope of Life looked worried.
Although the immortal being was identified as belonging to the Cult of Life when he unearthed him, he actually belonged to the Decayers faction within the cult.
The Life Cult has many factions, but the Withered Ones lineage is the smallest, most secluded, and most dangerous.
They ignored the unity of opposites between life and death, choosing instead to amplify the aspect of death, allowing deathly energy to fill their bodies.
The offerings required by the decaying ones are not simple either; they are not ordinary people or animals, but must be people on the verge of death.
"I remember there happens to be a group of seriously wounded soldiers who were evacuated from the front lines within the church. Should we...?"
The Pope's expression shifted between light and dark, and after a long while, he finally abandoned the idea.
After all, if this were to leak out, he might lose his papal crown.
In order to unite his fellow believers and also to protect his own position, the Pope decided that he still had to make life difficult for the common people.
"Making some people disappear silently shouldn't cause much of a stir. Yes, I can also target civilians in other sectarian territories."
Especially the embers and the black moon.
A cold glint flashed in the Pope's eyes as he thought of those two names.
In the Battle of the Acheron River, these two sects suffered the least losses; their people entered the teleportation portal almost the instant the evacuation order was given.
After reviewing the incident, the Pope of Life suspected that the two sects had conspired to shirk their duties and that the first to run away would be the one to do so.
"It's time to make them bleed a little, and then we can shift the blame onto the Blood God Cult."
Having set his goal, the Pope immediately began to devise a clever plan.
"This is definitely the work of the Life Cult!"
In a secret meeting with only three people, Modi pointed one finger to the sky, looking very confident.
Opposite him, the two popes, Black Moon and Iron Castor, exchanged a glance and communicated with their eyes.
Cast Iron: That's what he told you back then?
Black Moon: No, but the meaning is similar.
"Well, I know you two might not believe it yet, but that's okay, time will tell."
Seeing that the time was right, Mo Di cleared his throat and his face showed anger at the opportune moment.
"The previous pope's death was suspicious, and our Ember Cult will not let this go easily. We will get to the bottom of this. Even if the mastermind is the Pope of Life, we will make him pay the price!"
Since you've already said this much, why not just remove "even if" altogether?
The two popes were somewhat speechless, but they didn't say anything to spoil the atmosphere; they did know a thing or two about social skills.
The three people present were all conservatives in the church, and they usually clashed with the radicals represented by the Life Church, so they often got together.
Take this meeting, for example.
Following the principle of shifting all the blame to the Cult of Life, Modi directly pinned a huge accusation on the Pope of Life, framing him for the disappearance of the Pope of Ember.
"That's true, but we still have the Blood Sea Cult as an external enemy. Surely the Pope of Life wouldn't be so reckless?" said the Iron Pope.
He found it hard to believe that the Pope of Life would lack such a broad perspective.
Mo Di pondered for a moment, then decided to feign reluctance and agree, saying, "Indeed, at first I didn't quite believe it either, but all the subsequent clues pointed to him, so I had to suspect it too. Perhaps someone framed him?"
The Iron Pope remained silent for a moment, and the Black Moon Pope chimed in promptly: "In any case, we must be careful of the Church of Life. I don't know why, but I always feel that they are becoming more and more extreme in their actions, almost to the point of crossing the bottom line of their doctrine."
The Iron Pope nodded, indicating that he would remember these words.
As the meeting drew to a close, Pope Black Moon was the first to take his leave and the first to step toward the door.
The Iron Pope was initially close behind, but after only a couple of steps, he nearly bumped into her and had to awkwardly take two steps back.
"What's this?" he asked.
The Black Moon Pope turned around, and the anger on her face was still visible.
This left the Iron Pope even more bewildered. He hadn't offended this woman at all, so what had happened in such a short time?
"Something happened?"
Modi had a more precise grasp of her thoughts, and he hit the nail on the head with just one sentence.
She nodded, and said bitterly, "The Blood God Cult attacked one of my cities, causing a lot of damage and abducting many civilians."
Modi: ?
"An attack by the Blood God Cult?"
Upon hearing this, the Iron Pope, arms as hard as cast iron, frowned and asked, "And then?"
"Then they all left, and we couldn't find their location at all."
"You mean, the Blood God Cult crossed the Acheron River into your territory just to cause trouble and kidnap people? And then they just ran away?"
As he said this, even the Iron Pope himself almost laughed.
What kind of size and level is the Blood God Cult? Do you really think they're some kind of fraudulent park? Why would they lower themselves to do something like this?
"Are you sure it was really the Blood God Cult that did it?"
Modi also looked puzzled. Just now, he contacted the church and confirmed that there were no plans for a cross-river raid in the near future, nor had he found anyone acting on their own.
He could guarantee that the attack mentioned by the Black Moon Pope had absolutely nothing to do with his Blood God Cult.
"I also think the Blood God Cult wouldn't do something so degrading," he said.
He has no interest in carrying out terrorist attacks; such things are just small-scale operations for him. If he's going to do something, it has to be something big.
In addition, he strictly forbade the use of civilians' blood sacrifices. Even if a mound of skulls was to be built, it should be made from the heads of the strong. Therefore, his subordinates had little interest in civilians who had no fighting ability.
Furthermore, the Blood God Cult is not short of people, so why would they kidnap civilians?
So here's the question: who is using the Blood God Cult's banner to swindle and deceive?
"If I catch you, you're in big trouble." He made up his mind.
"I also find this matter suspicious, but according to the investigation by the bishops under my command, the attackers used the common methods of the Blood God Cult."
The Black Moon Pope suppressed his anger, but his expression was still not good.
She listed some of the attackers' methods, leaving Mordy speechless.
"First, spread blood mist on the city streets to create a home-field advantage, then randomly select some lucky audience members and turn them into flesh bombs to create panic."
"Once a certain number of people are waiting to die, use blood magic and necromancy to create a swamp of flesh and blood, and piece together the remains of flesh and blood to form a flesh golem, and continue the destruction."
"When the Guardians of the Faith rushed to the scene, the attackers ordered the golems to attack while simultaneously drawing their guns and firing back. Some even merged with the golems and rampaged through the streets."
"Furthermore, while one group attacks, another group takes the opportunity to flank and raid important institutions and facilities. The attackers just happen to complete their withdrawal as soon as the sect's army arrives, as if it were all planned."
Modi stroked his chin, a slight embarrassment rising in his heart.
What she said were indeed common tactics used by the Blood God Cult.
"Setting up production sites, manufacturing raw materials, setting up production sites again... It seems like the Five Fingers Army is involved. Could it be that the Blood God has really extended his reach southward?"
The Iron Pope's expression changed. He was truly pondering how they could contend with the Blood God if the Northern Middle Lands could not satisfy him.
He said, "This matter has a huge impact. It will be difficult for the Black Moon Cult to keep it from other cults. Before long, the entire church will know about it."
3
"But what if it wasn't the Blood God Cult?" The Black Moon Pope was starting to become suspicious, perhaps because the Life Pope had been mentioned so often before, making him her first suspect.
Seeing that his guidance had been very effective, Modi didn't know what expression to make. If this unexpected turn of events hadn't happened, he probably would have been very gratified.
But he never expected that the results would be inspected under such circumstances.
"Well, I want to go to the scene myself and investigate..."
'
Clearing his throat, Modi choked on his words halfway through.
He couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time, which immediately aroused the curiosity of the two men.
"What's wrong with you? Are you possessed?"
The Iron Pope's expression changed, and he patted him on the shoulder with his calloused hands, calloused from years of blacksmithing.
"Strange, there's no sign of being possessed."
He muttered something to himself, and the hand that reached out was slapped away by Mo Di.
"I just received some bad news. The city of the Ember Cult has also been attacked by the Blood God Cult. Same modus operandi, same result."
Modi remained expressionless; now he was even more certain that the attackers were not from the Blood God Cult.
It can't be like the flood washing away the Dragon King Temple, or it's like family members fighting each other, can it?
He would rather believe it was a Blood God Cult imitation contest than believe it was the real Blood God Cult doing it.
"Now, we really need to investigate this thoroughly." His tone was flat, but both Cast Iron and Black Moon could sense the chill in his voice.
Even the previous Pope of Ember had never put such pressure on them; it seemed that this Pope of Ember was even stronger than the previous one.
Dastri, the Grey City, is known for its monotonous grey architecture.
The streets and houses are mostly gray, looking lifeless and lacking the vitality that a normal city should have.
"Heh, after this incident, Gray City truly lives up to its name."
Modi looked around, and all he could see were ruins and a layer of ash covering them.
Beneath the dust, the bodies of the victims continued to be unearthed.
The bodies were relatively well-preserved, covered in a layer of ash, and appeared to have no visible injuries.
He examined the victims and found that they had all died from inhaling hot, thick smoke.
"Another common tactic used by the Blood God Cult. Tsk, they've done a pretty good job of imitating it, but it's just an imitation after all."
No one in the world understands the Blood God Cult better than Mo Di. He can see at a glance that behind the similar appearance lies a core that is completely different from the Blood God Cult.
He casually rummaged through the nearby mound of earth and what appeared before his eyes was a mass of deformed flesh and blood that still retained a faint trace of life.
The mass of flesh was about the size of a palm, and it was still trembling slightly when it fell into Modi's hand.
Stimulated by the outside world, the mass of flesh extended two tentacles, wrapped around Modi's wrist twice, and finally pierced his skin and blood vessels with its sharp tips, sucking his blood without stopping.
"Still a little glutton."
Modi made a sarcastic remark, but instead of stopping it, he used the connection it had established to control it through the blood it was being transported out.
The mutated flesh trembled, becoming much more docile, allowing Modi to read its information.
It has no independent consciousness or memory, but its genes still carry some information.
Based on this information, Mody can deduce the causes and processes of its distortion.
Although the eyewitnesses swore that it was the blood mist that caused the corpses to deform, he wouldn't believe their one-sided story.
"Hmm... The cause of the mutation is an excessive amount of uncontrollable life force, which causes normally normal flesh and blood to mutate, ultimately leading to the creation of this thing."
The truth is clear.
"As expected, the so-called mutation caused by blood mist is just a symptom. The underlying cause is uncontrollable life force. Did they really think anyone could manipulate blood mist so skillfully?"
Of all the forces that Modi knew, besides his Blood God Cult, there was only one other force that had conducted in-depth research on the subject of life.
The Life Cult.
Their research on life and death was enough to allow them to imitate the Blood God Cult's usual methods. If it weren't for the Blood God Cult members coming over, almost no one would be able to spot the flaws.
But then again, even if someone from the Blood God Cult came, even if he really saw through it, would anyone believe him?
"The Church of Life, that old bastard seems to be thinking the same thing as me."
The question is, why would the Life Cult do this?
Modi lowered his eyes, and as he pondered, the mass of flesh in his hand trembled violently.
Cellular reconstruction occurred, and a head, limbs, tail, and fur grew. Finally, the two whiskers died, leaving only a calico cat that jumped off his arm, rubbed against his trouser leg, and disappeared into the ruins.