A magic artifact from an extraterrestrial powerhouse.
Its surface is a black rose, but in reality, it is composed of thirteen fragments of hellish mirrors.
Each mirror-flower can drag a person's soul into hell.
"The so-called magic artifact of the extraterrestrial powerhouse Lucifer, is that correct?" Qin Yexuan's voice was heard.
Only Bishop Saint Peter could hear it.
He displayed an expression of utter horror.
Why, he, how could he still speak?
A black petal spun, and upon closer inspection, the frosted texture of the patterns was actually darkness reflected by the mirror surface. Once these patterns disappeared, the true form of the object was a distorted transparent lens.
Each lens shimmered with strange ripples.
Beside Qin Yexuan, two monks suddenly grabbed their faces in terror, the force so great that they tore off the flesh and blood from their faces.
They wailed, and the mirrors reflected their faces, which were now skulls.
Then, a shadow seemed to be pulled from their bodies into the mirrors.
The rose petals continued to flash, and two men from Goryeo cried out in agony.
The Buddhist hall seemed to have transformed into a true hell.
*Whoosh!*
Qin Yexuan blew a breath, scattering the struggling, distorted souls around him.
The black mirror fragments reassembled and returned to Saint Peter's hand.
Holding the magic artifact from the demon king Lucifer, he stared at Qin Yexuan, his face deathly pale.
Qin Yexuan smiled, "Disappointed, aren't you? The ability to manipulate souls, to implant the most terrifying negative information into the enemy's mind, turning them into demons. That's your most commonly used method, isn't it?"
Saint Peter was at a loss.
Qin Yexuan seemed to see through him, "You are merely a pawn of Lucifer. If I'm not mistaken, you aren't even a true priest by origin. Perhaps you were a wayward believer who inadvertently made a pact with the demon king. With the black rose in your possession, you went around performing exorcisms."
"The truth is, you first drove people mad with demonic power, and then you appeared as a believer to save them."
"Thus, you transformed from a low-level believer into an exorcism master, and then into a most devout servant of the Lord. After the spiritual energy resurgence, your fame grew even more, directly attracting the attention of the Holy See, and you were rapidly promoted to become the Pope's most trusted Archbishop."
Qin Yexuan spoke coldly, "Now tell me, is young Joseph still alive? I haven't seen him since that little boy became Pope. Was he imprisoned by you, or was he murdered?"
Saint Peter's face remained ashen.
He couldn't comprehend the man before him.
Qin Yexuan strode forward, his eyes flashing with a strange light, "I can tell you a secret."
"What?"
Saint Peter grew more dazed.
Sweat beaded on Qin Yexuan's forehead. This was the first time he had forcefully used the Mind Control technique without any spiritual energy augmentation.
Strictly speaking, what he could unleash now was merely the most basic form of hypnosis.
Qin Yexuan had already discerned that this Saint Peter was not a true saint who had undergone years of mental training, but merely a counterfeit holding a devil's flower.
Furthermore, this fellow was emotionally unstable.
Such individuals were most susceptible to hypnosis.
"This secret is..." Qin Yexuan lowered his voice, "Why don't you put down the flower in your hand first, and I'll tell you slowly. You need to relax now."
Saint Peter had shown only a sliver of vulnerability, a momentary loosening of his mind under extreme shock, and Qin Yexuan had seized it firmly.
He hesitated, and the flower in his hand loosened slightly.
Qin Yexuan continued, "The secret is actually very simple. Put down the flower in your hand, and I'll tell you. Why am I unaffected by your magic?"
"You tell me first!" Saint Peter's eyes widened.
Qin Yexuan leaned in, his voice suddenly booming, "Because I don't have a soul from this world!"
No soul?
Stunned, Saint Peter's grip on the flower loosened, and it fell.
Qin Yexuan's pupils contracted as the Equalizer technique was instantly activated.
Stripped of the extraterrestrial powerhouse's magic artifact, Saint Peter, though possessing spiritual energy, became an ordinary person at that moment.
*Stab!*
The iron rod hidden in Qin Yexuan's hand plunged directly into his chest.
Saint Peter let out a great roar, blood gurgling from his mouth.
The black rose finally fell.
Saint Peter's life rapidly ebbed away.
In that instant, his entire life flashed before his eyes.
All his memories surged forward.
He was born into a devout believer's family, but his father was a drunkard, and his mother a prostitute. Like all families rife with suffering, when he was twelve, his mother blasted his ever-swinging-fist father with a shotgun and then abandoned him at a children's orphanage.
From then on, the woman disappeared, perhaps dying in prison, perhaps in some grimy underpass.
Twelve-year-old Saint Peter had only a Bible, nothing else.
Then he met a truly good man, Pastor Edward.
Just as he aspired to be a pastor, dreaming of a new life, the unfortunate old Edward was shot and killed by two drugged thugs while preaching on the street.
That night, Saint Peter lost everything once more. He stumbled back to his dilapidated home, the one that had brought him endless pain.
He drank himself into a stupor, then smashed through a wall and found the shotgun his mother had used to kill his father.
He took the gun and found those two thugs, and pulled the trigger...
What followed were twenty years of imprisonment. When the despairing Saint Peter was released and walked under the sun again, he was plunged into even greater confusion.
Ultimately, clad in thorns and barefoot, he walked across half the world and arrived at the Holy Land.
Emaciated, he prostrated himself before the Holy Land, lamenting his bewilderment.
He wished to see the Pope.
But the Holy See's Vatican police disdainfully threw him into prison.
At that moment, Saint Peter's faith was on the verge of collapse.
However, it was also that night that the era of spiritual energy resurgence dawned.
In the dark dungeon, Saint Peter encountered the rose flower, which appeared from the void above, transforming him overnight into the spokesperson of an extraterrestrial powerhouse.
He left the dungeon and once again traveled the world, this time as an exorcism master.
Finally, he gained the attention of the Holy See and returned to the Vatican in the spotlight.
The Pope himself received him and allowed him to enter the Holy Land to examine all the Sacred Texts.
The Holy See even intended for him to become the next Pope.
These memories flashed by in an instant, and Saint Peter suddenly became completely lucid. He grabbed Qin Yexuan's sleeve, his voice making a guttural sound.
"What do you want to say?" Qin Yexuan, standing on the black rose artifact, looked stern.
"The Pope... the Pope died long ago. After the spiritual energy resurgence, he, he crawled out of a rose coffin... He's not the Pope, but a demon. This, this is a secret known by all the bishops of the Holy Land, but they are afraid. They dare not speak. They have long since betrayed their faith."
Saint Peter finally revealed the Holy See's greatest secret, then lay back with a sense of release.
Qin Yexuan looked at his peaceful eyes, his heart trembling.
He bent down and picked up the black rose, and the flower began to burn his palm.
Qin Yexuan gritted his teeth and held on, but could only reluctantly let go.
The black rose fell again, but he managed to forcibly break off one petal and tuck it into his pocket.
At this moment, the burly men brought by Saint Peter had surrounded them.
"Believers, do not kill him!"
A clear, gentle voice, filled with infinite majesty, rang out from above.
Above the Buddhist hall, the wood and stone instantly shattered!