Chapter 403: Chapter 222: Strength is Truth

"You, how do you view wizards?"

This was undoubtedly a life-threatening question.

In an era when witch-hunts were prevalent, countless people had been asked the same question, whether they were from other planets or members of some relief organization, and possibly even believers of the Ashen Church.

The questioner often wore a smile and presented a benevolent demeanor.

This was to coax people into revealing their true thoughts.

Often, by the time these questions were asked, the questioner had already prepared torture instruments and cells for imprisoning the wizards’ "accomplices". Should the respondent provide a neutral or sympathetic answer, these instruments and cells would then come into play.

Fu Ling had learned that the Tribunal was a product of the witch-hunt era, initially founded with the slogan of eradicating all evil.

It was the Sun God who had bestowed upon them the power to give life and death.

And now, Duan Mingyuan was facing a deadly question.

"I have had many disagreements with the martyr you mentioned; I do not think that he and the adjective ’brave’ are remotely related."

Duan Mingyuan spoke bluntly, "He claimed to have executed over twenty remnants of the Witch Council, but the truth proved that he had no sense of prevention against the wizards’ curses, forcing one to doubt whether those more than twenty executed remnants of the Witch Council were just innocents framed with crimes."

At least from Duan Mingyuan’s perspective as a total bystander, the martyr’s claimed accomplishments were greatly inflated.

"You think those people were wronged."

The Iron Blood Bishop’s expression became even more benevolent, even somewhat compassionate toward humanity.

He had gotten the answer he wanted.

The man before him was just as the rumors described, a hopeless case.

He had said the same thing countless times, "In the midst of war, there are no innocents at all. Do you know who I despise more than wizards? Those who think they are kind, yet help demons out of ignorance, these foolish people who are blinded by their immediate feelings, completely unaware of the consequences their supposed kindness leads to!"

"What consequences does it lead to?"

Duan Mingyuan interrupted the Iron Blood Bishop’s impassioned speech to inquire.

Thus, the atmosphere in the church once again fell into a deathly silence.

The Iron Blood Bishop stared at him for a long while, unable to answer the question for the moment.

Usually, when he gave his passionate judgments, there was no opportunity for the accused to ask questions; even if they could still speak, most were bitterly pleading.

Seeing the Iron Blood Bishop at a loss for words, Duan Mingyuan curiously turned to the nearby believers wielding weapons and threw the same question at them, "What consequences did those foolish people ultimately lead to?

"Ah, um..."

The believers were also caught off guard by this sudden question and stuttered for a long while before answering, "Probably leading to their homes being occupied by demons, their kin becoming playthings of the demons, and dying tragically and such."

"Which planets have been occupied by demons so far?"

This time, the believers looked at each other, unable to answer once again.

Wizards are descendants of demons, their strength comes from the demons’ gifts, spreading the doctrine of demons among mankind, for the believers of the Ashen Church, all of this was common knowledge.

They would never question the accuracy of common knowledge, nor would they investigate to find out which planets had been occupied by demons.

But still, those misled by wizards would inevitably become playthings of demons, this remained an unshakeable truth!

"And you, are the very fool I speak of!"

The Iron Blood Bishop didn’t want to let Duan Mingyuan continue questioning any longer; he raised his scepter high and slammed it down hard on the ground.

The ruby at the top of the scepter burst into a dazzling brilliance, and in an instant, the church vanished in a blazing inferno. Duan Mingyuan and Fu Ling found themselves amidst volcanoes, with only a solitary rock under their feet and scalding magma below. Numerous chains radiating intense heat sealed off the entire space.

The Iron Blood Bishop floated in the air not far away, his gray robe billowing with the hot wind.

"The great Sun God never needs to explain anything to you; you only need to believe!"

Believe, listen to the will of the Sun God.

Doubt itself is a sin.

Clearly, Duan Mingyuan was a man of tremendous sin.

And now, he was about to fulfill his role as the Judgment Chief and judge this tremendously sinful man before him.

"This is not in line with our plan!"

Fu Ling, looking at the scorching chains coming at them like arrows, about to pin them to the ground, said anxiously.

Their plan had been to engage in peaceful diplomacy, to peacefully discover during the conversation that the airship that was supposed to arrive here had been hijacked by the Wizards, and then naturally shift the blame to the escaping Witch Council.

But now the Iron Blood Bishop seemed to have completely lost interest in the fleeing airship, and Duan Mingyuan, by expressing his doubts just moments ago, had successfully made himself the target of all.

Duan Mingyuan admired the twisted, scorching space; the bishop’s actions confirmed what he had been thinking.

"Look, haven’t you also learned a lot from them?"

This was not the Ashen Church’s method, but rather the application of the Inherent Barrier that Ah Jing had mentioned; in fact, he had felt a familiar sensation from the moment he first saw the Iron Blood Bishop.

This precisely indicated that the Bishop had learned a great deal during the war on the Wizard Star, even surpassing most wizards, creating his own Inherent Barrier.

Before parting from Ah Jing, he had inquired a lot about the Inherent Barrier.

Ah Jing had mentioned that Inherent Barriers are often a measure of a witch’s strength, and there is only one way to break an Inherent Barrier—by suppressing it with a more powerful barrier.

In the blink of an eye, the scorching chains had already reached the two of them.

Finally, a smile appeared on the Iron Blood Bishop’s face.

He had judged many people in the same way before.

Not just wizards and witches, but also those who questioned his authority, challenged his decisions.

As the war came to an end, he gradually understood something.

—Strength is the ultimate truth.

He stared intently, unwilling to miss the moment when the two were completely incinerated.

What followed, however, was a brief darkness, during which he seemed to hear the sound of breaking.

When he returned to his senses, the bishop found himself kneeling on the ground, not knowing when he had dropped the scepter. The glowing ruby on it now had several noticeable cracks, and as he instinctively reached out with both hands, the gem shattered right before his eyes.

"I also have a question that I want to ask you; this is also the reason I came here."

Duan Mingyuan said, "For a long time, the Ashen Church has believed that wizards are descendants of demons ... why then do you never hunt down real demons?"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read