Chapter 007: The Blue-Blooded Man

“Oh?” Du Fan was somewhat surprised. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, “So who is this person?”
Anthony sighed lightly. After a pause, he spoke in a respectful tone, “This person is not the God of Light, but in the eyes of people from that era, he was no different from the God of Light… He is the founder of the Holy Church—the legendary first pope, Leois I!”
Du Fan’s eyebrows shot up. “So it’s him… No wonder. Given Leois’s status, it wouldn’t be wrong for him to accept worship from his followers, right?”
“Do you think so too?” Anthony glanced up at Du Fan.
Frowning, Du Fan said, “Of course. Leois is the founder of the Holy Church. I’ve heard that many miracles occurred through him—more even than those witnessed by our Holy Church over a thousand years. With that, how could it not be possible?”
Anthony shook his head slightly. “Though that’s true, Leois I was still just a man, not a god…”
After saying that, Anthony fell silent for a long time. Moments later, his quiet voice echoed throughout the space: “This first mural tells the story of how Leois I received an oracle, learning that the glory of the God of Light was about to descend upon the Roland Continent. So he led believers from various tribes to build this temple together… Du Fan, remember—this is a temple, not a sanctuary!”
“And then?”
“And then?” Anthony smiled bitterly. “Then, on the day predicted by the oracle, the God of Light did not appear. Du Fan, you must know that in those ancient times, believers’ faith was far less devout than it is now… If the god hadn’t appeared by the appointed time, the newly established Holy Church might have been buried in the dust of history… But, Du Fan, do you know what happened? That didn’t happen… Instead, it continued. So, would you like to guess what actually happened at that time?”
Du Fan also smiled bitterly. “I couldn’t guess at first, but after seeing the content of this mural, I can roughly figure it out!”

Anthony narrowed his eyes, gazing at the mural, a hint of bitterness appearing on his lips. “At that time, Leo I firmly believed that the God of Light would arrive. He led countless believers to wait in front of the temple, but in the end, there was still no sign that the God of Light was coming. At that moment, Leo I made a bold decision… At the last second, he slowly flew into the sky, ascending above the temple, and declared to the many believers below that he… was the God of Light!”
Du Fan’s mouth fell open. Though he had guessed somewhat already, he couldn’t help but sigh and say, “Even for the sake of the Holy Church, for Leo I to say such things… it’s simply… a kind of…”
He stopped speaking here.
“It’s blasphemy,” Anthony said after glancing at Du Fan. “A human, no matter who he is, pretending to be a deity is absolutely utter blasphemy… not even if he’s the founder of the Holy Church! Of course, this matter has been passed down within our Holy Church from generation to generation, with no records at all. It’s because if this were to be made public, the very foundation of our Holy Church’s faith would be ruined…”
Du Fan nodded slowly, but after a moment, he asked doubtfully, “But even if Leo I wanted to pretend to be the God of Light… how could he convince people?”
Anthony smiled rarely and said calmly, “That’s easy to explain. It is said that our first pope was chosen on the Roland Continent. His strength had even surpassed the Saintly rank and domain, reaching the level of a demi-god… He even mastered the legendary Great Prophecy Art. It is said that when Leo I declared himself to be the God of Light, the believers present did not believe him. Though they admired Leo I, they saw him only as a human, not a deity!”
“What happened next?”

“Then, Leoiris I began to show off his powers… Du Fan, do you know what Great Prophecy is? As the saying goes, when God says there shall be light, there shall be light… Under Great Prophecy, everything spoken by the prophet becomes reality… This is Great Prophecy—indeed, it is the closest thing in the mortal world to divine power. In legends, most of the miracles shown by Leoiris I were actually achieved through his Great Prophecy… According to historical records, throughout Leoiris I’s life, apart from receiving the oracle that led to the establishment of the Holy Church, he never received any other oracles! Yet, his Great Prophecy made most humans believe that he was the God of Light. Remember… it was most humans…”

Du Fan curled his lips and asked, “What do you mean by ‘most humans’?”

Anthony laughed and said, “Du Fan, it seems your observational skills are still insufficient!”

With that, Anthony stretched out his wand and pointed at several spots on the mural from afar…

Following his gesture, Du Fan looked over—and this time, he couldn’t take his eyes away!

On the mural, although the expressions of those “humans” appeared extremely pious and holy, upon closer inspection, some inconsistencies could be seen. For example, some “humans” had strikingly handsome features but long ears, and their clothes were far more luxurious than those of others. Some had two fangs protruding from the corners of their mouths, while others had animal-like heads despite having human bodies!

The more Du Fan looked, the more astonished he became, until he could hardly speak at the end!

Anthony observed Du Fan’s expression calmly and said, “Du Fan, look—those with handsome faces and long ears are actually elves. Those with two fangs are the legendary vampires. Those with animal heads and human bodies are the so-called beastkin… These short and chubby ones are dwarves, and those with strange appearances are goblins…”

Du Fan touched his nose and couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “I could recognize these races even without having seen them before. But Lord Anthony, aren’t these all so-called alien races? Aside from elves and dwarves who are on good terms with us humans, we’ve always regarded the rest as heretics. So why, in ancient times… were they all… believers of the God of Light?”

Anthony shook his head slightly and said, “It is said that in ancient times, the place where we humans live now was inhabited by various races living together. Although there were constant wars, no race regarded another as an alien. At that time, it was not surprising that Leois I established the Holy Church, and these aliens became its believers… But as I said earlier, when Leois I claimed to be the God of Light, only some humans believed him… As for these aliens, most of them did not believe him at all…”

As he spoke, Anthony waved his magic wand, signaling Du Fan to look at the second mural. The second mural also used realistic techniques, but it appeared quite terrifying. Its background was a burning black forest, with black and red colors almost turning the sky red. In the sky, there were corpses everywhere, and atop these piles of corpses, two clearly divided groups were fighting each other.

The expressions on everyone’s faces in the painting were depicted with extreme clarity—whether it was the screams of the living or the agonized cries of the dead, almost everything could be conveyed through the image. But strangely, both groups seemed to be humans. One group had beastkin, vampires, goblins, and other aliens standing behind them, while the other group consisted solely of humans. The two groups seemed evenly matched, but when fighting, they showed no mercy to each other!

Du Fan watched for a while, seemingly shocked by the brutality. Only after he regained his composure did he ask, “What on earth is this…”

Anthony closed his eyes and slowly opened them after a moment, saying, “This is the war that lasted for a thousand years, beginning a hundred years after the establishment of the Holy Church—what is known as the Age of Darkness!”

Du Fan let out a long sigh and asked, “The Age of Darkness… What caused it? Wasn’t it said that relations between the various races were fairly good when the Holy Church was founded? And why did humans split into two groups to fight each other instead of fighting the aliens?”

Anthony replied calmly, “Actually, this is not difficult to explain. Because those who were only humans were the true humans. As for those ‘humans’ who sided with the aliens, although they looked exactly like us, their blood was blue. In that era, such people were called ‘Bluebloods’ by us!”