Abundant Martial Arts Virtue
Chapter 143 - 116: Grace and Resentment

Chapter 143: Chapter 116: Grace and Resentment

Real world.

Arena.

The Pope had just finished sketching the last rune, and casually took out a cup of fine wine from the Void, gently sipping it.

"To kill you, using your head as a sacrifice for the National Foundation Ceremony tomorrow morning..."

"Would this provoke the Fu Xi Empire?"

"No matter, the Divine General will protect everything, if they want to use nuclear weapons, then let humanity perish."

The Pope muttered.

He sipped his wine while thinking through the entire plan.

His actions would greatly please the Divine spirits.

In light of his many outstanding achievements, in light of his blood and sweat for the Holy Sect, the Divine should resurrect her.

After all, God had promised him personally.

The Pope, lost in thought, outright moved a chair to sit down, quietly waiting for Wu Xiaode’s return.

Time slowly passed.

At a certain moment.

Slight invisible ripples appeared in the Void.

"He’s coming back... It’s really exciting."

The Pope held the wine in one hand and gently tapped the ground with a magic wand in the other.

All the runes spread throughout the arena lit up.

The power of the Sacrificial Array was continually strengthened, forming layers of crisscrossing Holy Light in the Void, constructing a powerful giant rune hovering above the arena.

Everything was set but not triggered, just waiting for that person’s arrival.

After a few moments.

Wu Xiaode’s voice suddenly sounded from the Void:

"Dark Summon."

Immediately following, a black and white magic wand appeared.

The deep red gemstone at the top of the wand flickered.

A mysterious pressure spread throughout the arena.

The Pope, with a stern expression, shouted, "With this life, I sacrifice to the beyond!"

The entire arena burst into towering light.

The powerful runes quickly formed a magic attack, ready to descend.

But at the next moment—

All the runes became dim and lightless.

In the depths of the sky above the arena, a deep red meteorite was rapidly falling.

The power fluctuations of the Sacrificial Array were nothing in front of this meteorite.

Boom—

The meteorite struck the arena, completely blasting through the Sacrificial Array and the arena itself.

The Sacrificial Array collapsed instantly!

"...Why do you possess the power of a god..."

The Pope muttered.

He looked at the red magic wand in his own hand, then towards the black and white wand adorned with a red gemstone in Wu Xiaode’s hand, his face revealing an incredulous expression.

"You have fought for the Holy Sect for so many years, do you really not know about this?" Wu Xiaode said.

"What are you talking about?"

The Pope shouted back.

He waved the red magic wand, causing the Holy Light in the Void to fly back and coil around the wand, ready to unleash his ultimate attack skill.

"’God’ is actually a cunning, greedy, shameless bastard who goes back on his words and regards humans as mere food," Wu Xiaode slowly said.

"How dare you—Dare to blaspheme the majesty of God, I will have you dead!" the Pope angrily shouted.

His wand emitted a brilliant light, transforming into a hammer several meters tall, and he smashed it viciously towards Wu Xiaode.

Wu Xiaode, seeing the opportunity early, activated "Dodge" just before the hammer fell, neatly avoiding the attack point.

But the power of this hammer was beyond imagination.

The entire ground was smashed into a pit tens of meters deep, the powerful shockwave blowing Wu Xiaode away.

He floated and landed on the other side of the arena, saying:

"I have a question for you."

"Go to Hell and ask the ghosts, sinner!" the Pope once again raised the Holy Light infused hammer, shouting loudly.

"The one you love has already been eaten by ’God’, didn’t you know?" Wu Xiaode said.

The hammer, enveloped in strong wind pressure, whistled as it struck towards Wu Xiaode.

But in the last moment.

It stopped.

"What did you say?" the Pope asked with a gloomy face.

"Yes, before you die, I’ll tell you the truth as a thanks for stealing that thing for me," Wu Xiaode said.

The Pope’s face showed confusion.

"Let’s put it simply, the you from a parallel world helped me out, so I felt I owed you a favor, and decided to tell you the truth," Wu Xiaode said.

"Impossible... God promised me..." the Pope said.

"How can someone like you trust someone else’s casual promises? Actually, you know the answer, you just dare not admit it, right?" Wu Xiaode said calmly.

The Pope’s mouth opened and closed silently.

"Now that I’ve delivered my repayment, it’s time for us to settle the score," Wu Xiaode said.

He forcefully planted his wand in front of him, pointing at the Holy Light hammer in the Pope’s hand:

"I want one of those things too."

As soon as he finished speaking.

Three pastors, two cardinal bishops, four Mechanism Bishops, and ten archbishops and elders all walked out from the Void around Wu Xiaode.

The Pope’s eyes widened in shock.

For there were some people who appeared to have duplicates!

Just like twins!

"You went to the parallel world’s Church Court!" the Pope uttered in disbelief.

Wu Xiaode didn’t reply.

All the clergy around him chanted spells in unison.

An almost heaven-piercing mighty Holy Light emerged from the Void, condensing into a Holy Light hammer several tens of meters long, with the wand as the handle of the hammer, standing quietly in the dark sky.

Wu Xiaode, one hand in his pocket and the other raising the wand, said with a smile:

"Sorry, but my hammer seems bigger than yours."

The Pope said, "You—"

Before the words fell, the Holy Light hammer in Wu Xiaode’s hand had already smashed down fiercely!

The Pope frantically used the Magic Wand of Holy Light in his hand to defend.

However, the Magic Wand of Holy Light in his hand was only a few meters tall and its power was limited, whereas the hammer opposite was formed by dozens of powerful professionals.

The two were completely at different levels!

Boom——

The entire arena was smashed into powder, and in an instant, the smoke cleared and all vanished.

A flash of the Void.

This world disappeared.

Wu Xiaode found himself and the Pope back in front of the Holy Church’s square.

The Pope lay on the ground, gasping for breath.

The Pope grasped the stone floor with both hands and shouted sharply, "Why? Why do you have the loyalty of so many believers!"

"The Gods feed on all beings. After you die, go ask God — if it doesn’t consume you, maybe you’ll know the answer," Wu Xiaode said.

He thought for a second, sighed, and said, "Well, I’m soft-hearted, so I might as well tell you the answer directly."

He casually twirled the Magic Wand in his hand, lowered his voice, and in a tone as if revealing a secret, he said:

"I, you see, promised to feed your gods—"

"And it lent me the power of the Magic Wand without hesitation."

The Pope stared at him, a face full of disbelief.

Wu Xiaode’s expression suddenly turned cold.

"Let’s talk business."

He raised the Magic Wand and held it over the Pope’s head and said, "You’ve sacrificed countless people to the stairway to heaven, but I bet you never knew what that felt like."

A burst of red light emanated from the Magic Wand.

Tremors came from the ground.

The Pope’s face changed drastically, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, saying, "Kill me!"

"Contribute to the arrival of God, Pope, isn’t this your faith?" Wu Xiaode said.

Before the sound faded.

Black elongated hands emerged from the ground.

They grabbed the Pope’s limbs and torso, and were about to drag him underneath.

"Kill me! Wu Xiaode, I’m begging you this time, I don’t want to be part of the stairway to heaven!"

The Pope screamed hysterically.

Wu Xiaode leaned down and said in his ear, "Think of those you sacrificed."

"I know I was wrong, I now understand! Please don’t sacrifice me to the stairway — it’s not what life should bear!"

The Pope panted and said, "You can’t act as we in the Holy Sect do, Wu Xiaode. What difference does it make between you and me!"

Wu Xiaode squatted in front of him, understandingly patted his shoulder, and said:

"We who scuffle through the streets, usually shy away from trouble, but once we decide to fight, we’ll keep it up until you’re dead."

"You have village slaughters behind you, and a whole hospital of victims; I couldn’t bear not killing you."

He sighed, rambling on:

"So I will not forgive you, please forgive me."

"As compensation, I plan to tell you something—"

"Your kingdom, I will destroy it today."

"Our grievances will thus be settled."

"The mountains do not shift, the rivers flow forever; we’ll meet again in the Jianghu."

Dense black hands reached out, grabbed the Pope, and dragged him deep underground amid his desperate screams.

The Pope’s voice gradually disappeared.

After a few moments.

The surroundings fell silent.

Wu Xiaode still stared blankly at the loosened earth on the ground.

One by one, bishops, cardinals, and pastors emerged from the darkness.

They formed a circle around Wu Xiaode.

Wu Xiaode, without looking up, just said, "Go, kill the people around you, and then mobilize them to kill the people around them, keep killing until all believers are dead."

"Yes."

The crowd responded with a single voice and walked back into the darkness.

The White Tiger quietly appeared.

"I know all the experiences of the Chang Ghosts, so I have something to remind you," it said.

"What?" Wu Xiaode said.

"There are too many believers, scattered across various countries; even Fu Xi has many hidden believers. I’m afraid they can’t be completely killed in one night," the White Tiger said.

"Find someone with authority to talk to," Wu Xiaode said.

A pastor emerged from the darkness and stood before him.

"The current time is 2:15 AM, can we still hold a press conference?" Wu Xiaode asked.

"No problem, what should the release say?" the pastor asked.

"According to the dying declaration of the Pope, he received a divine oracle requiring all believers to express their loyalty."

"The general content is—"

"Go and die, only by doing this can you be a loyal devotee of God;"

"If you can’t do it, your faith is considered weak, you’re deemed not qualified to be a believer of the Holy Sect, and you must immediately resign from the Holy Sect and be the enemy of the Holy Sect from then on."

"That’s the gist of it, as for how exactly to say it, how to express it, you clerics should be better at spinning it than me."

"There must be a resolution by dawn."

"Yes," the pastor said.

"Get to it," Wu Xiaode said.

The pastor retreated into the darkness and silently disappeared.

The White Tiger listened quietly beside, then licked its paw and said, "My Merits are almost in hand."

"Guess we’ll still be killing for a while," Wu Xiaode said.

"There won’t be any new twists in this matter; I already feel Merit coming our way," the White Tiger said.

Just as it finished speaking, the Book of the Dead opened.

Rows of ice crystal small letters emerged on the pages:

"Mission nearly complete."

"You have paid 1 point of Merit."

"White Tiger has not taken your Soul Power because it has gained a lot of Merit and deems your Soul Power unworthy of further collection."

"You have received the Merit it shared with you."

"Current Merit remaining: 5."

Wu Xiaode looked towards the White Tiger.

The White Tiger had already contentedly squinted its eyes and muttered softly, "This mission was truly a bargain."