Law of the Devil

Chapter 285 “Mayuba, the religious fraud” (part two)

“One day, Aragon suddenly sought me out in private and said to me, ‘there is something very important I need you to do for me, this matter is very important and dangerous. Especially… when there’s no other he can trust besides myself.’ I did not hesitate. For him, I’m willing to sacrifice everything.

Later, we talked for a long time and began our plan, which was privately called “Usurpation of God” by Aragon and me! Its meaning is the usurpation of the gods’ power!

There were many religions on the mainland at that time with various religious institutes, various faiths… and all kinds of gods. Merely expanding the army cannot solve all the problems we would face and would no doubt be unable to conquer a person’s mind and heart. So, we decided to put our sight on using one of these religions! But due to the constraint of time and effort, we couldn’t create our own; we had to use one that’s already in existence. In the end, we chose the religion of light because their numbers were the largest. With their connections and power, it would greatly aid in Master Aragon’s mission.

After that, I began to embark on my own stage.

First we secretly came back to our hometown with some of our own men. Due to war, the local priests of the village had all been killed, leaving only the documents. After carefully reading through each and every one, Aragon and I burned any possible evidence that could hinder our quest, and of course, we left only those documents that could be advantageous to us.

With that out of the way, I then used a special magic potion to dye my hair because a normal dye would discolor over time when the new hair grows out. That drug really was painful after applying. My skin ached and itched profusely as all my original hair fell off. Once a month passed, and my new hair fully grown, the coloration went from deep black to a golden shade.

The next part was changing my voice. Through the use of a secret concoction we obtained, the tune of my voice completely changed after I ingested the foul liquid. And then Aragon taught me a skill that allows me to change my bone structure, thus raising my height and body shape. By then, two months had elapsed.

The entire process was very painful, but for Master Aragon, I am willing to dedicate everything.

With all our preparations complete, I finally donned the mantle of a priest belonging to the goddess of light. Before Aragon departed, he left me these words, ‘Remember, from today onwards, your name is Mayuba, a young priest of the religion of light from a remote village. All of your resumes are clearly written on these materials, but I believe you should’ve memorized them by now.’

And of course I did.

Aragon trusted me and he taught me a lot of things. On many occasions, he would tell me he’s sorry for holding me back. To him, I was someone very talented with a great mind. With time, he believed I would achieve something great on my own.

During those painful two months, I endured and endured. Despite all that pain on my throat, my skin, my body, I kept reciting the teachings of the religion of light. I swear with my own soul, my knowledge on the topic would not lose out to a real priest!

That’s when we started the ‘Usurpation of God’ plan!

From that day forward, I was officially renamed ‘Mayuba’, and my identity was no longer a farmer’s son, no longer a servant of Master Aragon. My identity is Mayuba, a young priest of the religion of light!”

QQ’s laughter became increasingly sly and sinister by this point: “Then, using my newfound identity, I began contacting the other powers belonging to the religion of light. In that era, the religion of light may be huge, but their organization was loose without a unified system. As a priest of the same religion, I was able to easily penetrate into the core of their ranks. Of course, no one would suspect me considering my impeccable records and my background as a devout follower from a young age. Using the funds given to me by Aragon, I was able to quickly gather a group of people around me. Then using the influence of the organization, I first bribed the smaller powers to support Aragon. This continued on until Aragon began negotiating with the leaders of the various schools. As for what happened afterwards, I believe I don’t need to tell you for you already know!”

No matter how strong willed Du Wei was, even he will break out into a cold sweat after hearing this secret!

This was the history of Mayuba! The true secret of Mayuba!!

What founder of the Temple…? What greatest follower of the goddess?

All bullshit, a total conspiracy!!!

“Usurpation of God” plan… Oh heavens!

“That is to say, the real Mayuba had perished long before the beginning of the war, and you, are an imposter implanted by Aragon into the religion of light after conspiring together from the very start. Your goal was to use the organization’s power and influence to help conquer the continent, then crush them from the inside out after the unification war.” Du Wei exhaled deeply: “What a good plan, what a shady and deviously good plan!”

Repeating the word “good” several times, Du Wei had to hand it to Aragon to be so calculative.

“Actually, we may be using the religion of light to our convenience, but we soon discovered a major problem. As the power of the Thorn Flower banner grew, the influence of the religion of light also grew with us. That was definitely not a good sign. In order to have a stable state, there cannot be two authoritative entities; otherwise, conflict will arise. To make things worse, those foolish followers in positions of power suddenly began to have ambitious and laughable thoughts. For example, gods authority….

They began to fantasize about harnessing the influence of the religion of light and making all secular powers bow down to their rule. What king, what noble, they wanted everyone to obey their holy rule.

They are greedy as pigs, yet vicious like snakes. Even if the entire empire does fall into their hands, would those religious frauds know how to run a country?

Of course, I didn’t pay much heed to those religious frauds at first. They may be greedy and vicious, but they were at least useful to us at the time. However, Master Aragon thought otherwise. When he learned of this, he grew exceptionally worried.

Especially after that event which happened later on!

Du Wei, I believe you read the Temple’s canon. Then you must have read the famous ‘miracle’ segment.”

Du Wei nodded.

Like the bible of the Christian faith from Du Wei’s past life, the Temple’s canon was a book of similar order.

Beyond the teachings of the goddess, the canon also procedurally deified and beautified the creation of the Temple of Light. Among one of the most important chapters within the canon, Du Wei found it to be utter nonsense in his opinion after reading:

Back during the time when the empire was first founded, the influence of the religion of light was already very powerful. At that time, there were many calls for the establishment of a powerful and sacred organization, a united front to control the educational affairs of the regions where the goddess’s glory had enshrouded its people.

Under this echoing call, a miracle finally occurred! This led to the popular belief that the religion of light was truly authorized to represent the goddess in this world.

Towards this record, the majority of the non-believers only looked at it with contempt, and for anyone wiser, it’s merely a beautiful fabrication by the Temple. Of course, this includes Du Wei himself and the majority of the Magic Union.

The event went like this:

The last page of the opening chapter of the first volume of the canon is called “The goddess bestows upon the temple eternal radiance.”

According to the legend, on the eve of the founding of the empire, the head of the religion of light, also known as Mayuba the first Pope of the Temple of Light, received guidance in his sleep. Supposedly in his dream, the goddess told him that on the following day at noon, he is to head west of the imperial capital in order to accept the miracle of the goddess atop of a hillside.

Therefore, his Majesty bathed and fastened until that moment. Without any attendant, he trekked barefooted up the mountain. Even if sharp stones made the arduous journey painful and bloody, he did not falter, for his Majesty’s pious heart gave him the strength to overcome all the pains in his heart!

And just like the dream indicated, at noon when the sun hanged directly above the head, the goddess’s miracle arrived! A red radiance overtook the sky, shadowing everything upon this world, and for a thousand miles, faint tremor could be felt by all living things.

In the end, numerous meteorites began crashing down from the sky! At first everyone thought it was a disaster and began to panic, but once one of the meteorites landed inside the imperial capital, exactly at the location where the current headquarter of the Temple of Light resides, the mysterious object suddenly slowed down, gently touching down to the ground without causing an impact. When the members of the Temple gathered around to investigate, they discovered there were numerous carvings of all kinds etched densely along the surface. The content of those texts were as follow….

The Goddess has come to bestow upon the Temple her ‘Divine skills’!

With these so called ‘divine skills’ from the goddess, the members of the Temple of Light will hence forth be able to protect the honor and authority of the faith.

Prior to that, the religion of light may be large in numbers, but everyone was but a commoner, this included the leaders of the various schools. However, after this event, the first ever divinest appeared and was able to contend with the magicians of the land.

This matter was written into the canon by the Temple of Light to show off their power in this world, that they are empowered by the goddess herself! And, this also greatly relieved the followers of the religion of light.

The reasoning was because there hasn’t been a miracle from the goddess for a very long a time, well over hundreds of years. To the followers, this was a great embarrassment and was heavily mocked by hostile religions of the opposing faith: always with the saying that they’ve been abandoned by the goddess.

The descent of this miracle not only gave the Temple of Light the coat of legitimacy, it also solved their biggest crisis, faith! From then on, their momentum grew even louder.

Of course, the first people to scoff at this so called miracle were the Magic Union!

The Magic Union had never recognized those whatever ‘divine skills, to them, the true essence in grasping the power of the gods were through the research of magic.

And the divine abilities of the Temple were nothing more than some magic spells stolen by those frauds. After some tampering, it was used to beautify themselves.

As for this miracle, most magicians had a simpler explanation: it was all fabricated by the Temple.

Within the magic union, their members believed they are in fact the most loyal to the gods. By devoting themselves to the art of magic, they are devoting themselves to the lifelong practice of delving into the mysterious power of the gods!

(This was a time back when people could still worship other gods)

If the gods wanted to bestow a miracle, it would never be on those religious fraudsters, it should be on the magic class of society.

“I have read the scriptures, and I of course know about the story of that so called miracle.” Du Wei smiled: “But wasn’t all of this fabricated by you guys? Objectively speaking, it was precisely because of this miracle that you were able to establish your unshakable status within the Temple and become the first Pope of the new order. You were the first to be contacted by the goddess, so you were regarded as her voice in the mortal world! If not for that, I doubt the leaders of the various schools would idly stand by while you take the throne.”

“You’re right on the second point. Indeed, because of this incident that I was endowed with a cloak of divinity, and when I took the throne, none opposed me or competed with me. But… Your first point is wrong! That miracle isn’t fabricated… It’s real!” QQ’s tone turned stern and dignified: “The goddess of light really did manifest herself! And that’s when it started… when I began to believe in the existence of gods.”

Du Wei’s expression turned strange, quietly waiting for QQ to give him the next half.

“That day, I dreamed and saw the will of the goddess in my sleep. At first I thought it was merely a dream, but then I discovered a thing under my pillow, a rock. In my sleep, the goddess told me to take the stone up to the mountains and accept her incoming miracle. So, I then understood this was no dream, its real!”

Listening to this, Du Wei suddenly made a strange smile: “I say, this goddess isn’t very capable is she…. Humph, you are clearly a villain hiding within the Temple, yet she decides to bestow her miracle upon you… How foolish.”

“You’re wrong again, Du Wei.” QQ sighed: “The goddess of light is not so kind. You really think she would choose me to be her spokesperson in the mortal world? Then I’ll tell you now, you are wrong, utterly wrong…. That goddess would never choose anyone! In the gods ’view’, us humans are all insignificant. Would you look down whenever you step on a bug? Would you think the act is evil or good? The same applies to the gods; we humans are no different from ants in their eyes!”

“Then… That miracle…”

QQ tone’s changed: “Don’t you find it strange when looking at this part of the scriptures? If those god stones directly descended into the Temple’s base, then…. Why would I be called upon to the top of the mountain? To greet what? I’m certain this part hadn’t been recorded in the canon now is it?”

Indeed!

His words immediately reminded Du Wei on this oddity. Frowning, he asked: “That’s right, why did you come back empty-handed from that hill?”

QQ did not directly answer the question, instead, he leisurely countered with a question: “Du Wei, if you are a herdsman, would you choose one of your grazing cattle to serve as your manager in order to ease the herd’s management?”

“Of course not.” Du Wei shook his head.

“They will not trust us humans” QQ exhaled: “Like the herdsmen, they will rather choose to send a shepherd dog for the job. So…… the reasoning for the Goddess in sending me up the mountain is so she can send her ‘shepherd’ dog! The gods do not trust us humans, they will only look down at us. In order to maintain the faith in this world, the goddess would never choose a human as her ambassador! Instead, she will bestow her own!”

Speaking up to here, QQ’s eyes turned somewhat erratic:

“That day, I came up to the top of the mountain to receive the goddess’s miracle. What descended was an angel.”

Du Wei’s eye lit up….

An angel?!