Chapter 1 The Holy Light of Taros

The holy light from Taros not only affected the Sunburnt Tower of the secular kingdoms; its light also penetrated the chaotic vortex at the center of the Korol world, appearing in the eyes of the Sanctuary people.

For days, the Sanctuary had been shrouded in a tense, oppressive atmosphere. The continued weakening of the Asu Mann Light had approached the final limit, and the shield of order covering the floating continent was so thin that it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The dark, chaotic power from the endless void was constantly surging outside the barrier, like an inverted sea, ready to cover the entire continent in a torrential downpour. This terrifying scene weighed heavily on the hearts of every Sanctuary person, and this once glorious and proud race was now controlled by frustration and despair.

But suddenly, a strong light shone from the dim opposite shore of chaos. The strong light tore through the boundaries of space and time, illuminating the space outside the barrier as if dividing the sky in two. This scene not only stunned everyone but also gave rise to an inexplicable hope.

In the eyes of the Sanctuary people who devoutly believed in the Goddess of Creation, this light was almost a miracle. It seemed to herald the end of the dark times—although the light gradually dissipated after more than ten minutes, it had already inspired many people on this continent.

However, it was mostly ordinary people who were inspired. The real upper-level managers did not dare to be blindly optimistic.

Pope Augustus VII summoned all the cardinals and court scholars to the pure white hall of the Sanctuary Palace. Under the eternal holy light of the pure white hall, these wisest and most authoritative theologians and scholars of the Korol world discussed the impact of the previous light. Augustus VII sat on the high papal throne, listening to the report of one of the cardinals.

"Your Holiness, we have confirmed that the light came from the Ansu continent, but we cannot determine the specific location. The chaos mist shrouds the trajectory of each continent, and we cannot observe any specific land now. We can only roughly estimate the current location of other continents based on the world model, but as the chaos becomes more rampant, the accuracy of this location estimation is also decreasing."

Floating next to the speaking cardinal was a set of exquisite models carved from magical gems. These models restored the details of the five floating continents and dozens of larger floating islands in the Korol world with amazing craftsmanship. They were slowly operating in the air, simulating the approximate location of each land in the Sea of ​​Karnos at this moment based on some ancient data.

However, due to the influence of the chaos tide, the accuracy of this model was actually not very high.

"The Ansu continent…very good," Augustus VII rubbed his forehead. "The revelation of Asu Mann has been confirmed once again. There are miracles descended by the Goddess of Creation on that continent."

"The light pillar caused a great sensation among the common people and lower-level priests," another bishop stood up. "The good news is that our morale is recovering, and the explanation for the light pillar has been spread. Now it is regarded as an inspiring miracle. But there is also bad news: after the light pillar disappeared, everything returned to normal. The light of Asu Mann is still weakening, and the barrier above the Sanctuary has not been strengthened. The effectiveness of this miracle may diminish over time—if no new miracle occurs.”

"That light was just a harbinger, a revelation from the God Realm sent by the Goddess to allow us to persevere in this dark age. We should fight bravely in the darkness to respond to the will of the Goddess," Augustus said slowly. "The Sanctuary people never give up hope, and it has always been so."

Another bishop stood up: "The output power of Mount Asu Mann has dropped by another one percent. Its rate of decline has stabilized, and it is estimated that there will be no sudden fluctuations. However, at this rate, we will completely lose the barrier in at most half a month. By then, the Sanctuary will fall into darkness like the ordinary world. We will fight on this sacred land—the filthy blood of chaos will defile the holy land."

"Then we will fight them, just like those secular kingdoms," another bishop said loudly. "The secular kingdoms can fight bravely and never retreat, and the Sanctuary people will certainly not retreat. We have already built Kindle Towers and Sunburnt Towers in various parts of the continent in an emergency. With the help of the remaining power of Asu Mann, these towers can allow us to survive this chaos tide."

"The key is the next century—if Asu Mann cannot recover, it will be useless for us to survive this tide. We cannot throw the burden on our descendants. I still insist on repairing Asu Mann as the top priority. I have a plan..."

The bishops once again fell into a debate on this topic. Various immature or whimsical plans were brought out and then rejected one by one by themselves. The court scholars also argued with reason in such debates, confronting the bishops and arguing red-faced. Each of them was a sincere good person—doing their best for the future of this world and the safety of the Sanctuary, but with the wisdom of mortals, it was ultimately difficult to solve that ultimate problem.

Mount Asu Mann.

The second half of the meeting was almost fruitless, and Augustus VII had to speak out to stop everyone from arguing. After the bishops and scholars left the pure white hall, the Pope stood up wearily. The body, no longer young, made a series of joint movements. He felt that the crown on his head was so heavy that it was about to break his neck, and the gorgeous robe seemed to be a shackle binding his hands and feet.

The attendant next to him immediately stepped forward. This middle-aged man, who had followed Augustus VII for thirty years, saw the deep fatigue on the Pope's face. He helped the latter take off the heavy gold crown and took the scepter: "Your Holiness, would you like to return to your bedroom to rest?"

"No," the Pope waved his hand. "We are going to the Hall of Statues."

The attendant blinked, seeming a little surprised by this answer, but the habit developed over many years still made him swallow his questions and just nodded lightly.

Hall of Statues—from the name, it can be heard that it has a special meaning in this Sanctuary Palace. This hall is almost the most magnificent space in the Sanctuary Palace, and also the most sacred place. Starting from the pure white hall, it is necessary to pass through three corridors, two internal courtyards, and two long halls to reach its entrance. The Pope was no longer young, and he was even more unwilling to use convenient magic when going to the sanctuary, so it took him almost an hour to reach the front of the Hall of Statues.

The attendant pushed open the golden-red door, and the Pope tidied up his clothes and stepped into the hall.

The hall was wide and empty, without any tables, chairs, or objects. Only two rows of tall columns were arranged in parallel, extending from this end of the hall to the other. Bright light poured down from a series of circular openings above the hall, making the entire space seem to be floating in a layer of pure white holy light.

On both sides of the hall, behind the two rows of columns, lifelike, huge statues were sitting quietly, dignified and sacred.

Augustus VII walked forward along the central axis of the hall, bathed in the gaze of the two rows of statues, as if accepting the review of the ancient kings, full of piety, and discarding distracting thoughts.

This is the Hall of Statues, and its name comes from the sacred statues in the hall. Even the name of the entire Sanctuary Palace was named after it.

No one knows who sculpted these statues, and even the creators of the Theocracy Kingdom did not leave a single word—this room existed long before the Theocracy Kingdom was established. The twenty-one statues seemed to come from an era before mortals, and the entire Sanctuary Palace was just an architectural shell expanded on the original basis of this "Hall of Statues". As time passed, popes were replaced one after another, and secular kingdoms were replaced in batches, but only the mysterious giants in this Hall of Statues had never changed from ancient times to the present.

If these giants stood up, they would be ten meters tall, but their size was far from their most striking feature. What was truly amazing and even awe-inspiring was the lifelike appearance of these giants: although they were sculpted from stone, they had clear eyebrows and vivid beards and hair, as if they were a group of real living rock giants sitting here. They did not look like sculptures, but rather like living things that were sleeping.

This made everyone who stepped into the Hall of Statues for the first time tremble. Even Augustus VII still remembered the fear and unease he felt when he first stepped into this place.

But that was all in the past. Now he had become the Pope, stepping into the Hall of Statues and accepting the gaze of each giant. This was no longer a daunting challenge, but a purification of the soul and heart.

The Pope walked all the way to the end of the hall, about to arrive in front of the statue called the "King of Kings", but at this moment, he suddenly stopped and stared in the direction he had come from.

The two rows of giants were as silent as ever, with no expression on their cold stone faces, and their eyes were staring straight at the center of the hall, looking unchanged.

But Augustus VII had a creepy feeling rising from his heart.

He shook his head. It had been many years since he had felt this way, and he was surprised at how he could be so gaffe.

At that moment, he felt that what was watching him was no longer the glorious ancient kings, but an indescribable and terrifying thing. Those empty gazes fell on him, making him feel as if he was falling into an abyss.

The old Pope calmed himself down and shook the strange illusion out of his mind. He turned around and bowed down piously in front of the statue of the "King of Kings".

"Ancient jailers, please give me guidance..."

The old Pope's low voice echoed in front of the statue of the King of Kings.

Then the voice stopped abruptly.