The unsmiling cardinal Auburn led Hao Ren and the others away from the palace, and went to a certain church facility near the cathedral through a secret path. Hao Ren looked at the surrounding scenery curiously along the way, and he found that the imperial palace and the cathedral are very close to each other—in fact, they are almost a pair of twin buildings, separated only by a wall. It is difficult to see this scene in other kingdoms: the two authorities are so closely linked, the imperial power and the divine power have no gap, and each plays a role in ruling the country in its own field. It seems that Holletta is indeed a unique place.
At this moment, the night was falling, and everyone was walking on a secluded path, so the surrounding atmosphere was very quiet. The tops of the exquisite brass lampposts on both sides of the road shed soft white light, illuminating the road and at the same time outlining the shadowy outlines of the shrubs beside the road, and a little farther away, you can see the tall and magnificent outer walls of the imperial palace in the night. Standing like a cliff, two moons are rising from the tallest spire of the palace, and the big red spot of the moon is watching the earth like the eyes of indifferent giants.
Lily was a little excited under the moonlight. She shook her ears slightly, listening to the noise of the night market coming from a distant street, and the shadow of the moon was reflected in her golden eyes. She took a deep breath and flicked her tail: "Phew—fresh air. The wind blows the gauze and the moon is like frost, and I check the old clothes under the window—I remember when I had a house in Beiping, and I could see the best clothes in the middle of the month." The moon, tsk tsk, it’s a pity that I didn’t live there after the war. And I haven’t seen such a good moonlight for decades... This world is actually quite good, at least it has more moons than the earth.”
The surrounding people immediately looked at Lily as if they were looking at a monster, which startled the latter: "What are you looking at me for?"
"Did you have a bad stomach just now?" Vivienne kept a distance of two meters from Lily, as if she was afraid of a big dog biting her, "Why did you suddenly become like a girl from the Republic of China—and who stole those two poems from?" ?”
Lily stared, bared her teeth, and threatened twice: "I am a young woman of literature and art! No matter how serious your amnesia is, you won't forget this, right? And what is stealing, I can write it myself!"
The corner of Hao Ren's mouth twitched and he glanced at Lily: "I know you are a female literary youth, but your usual image is too deeply rooted in people's hearts... Please let me know in advance when you switch forms next time, listening to the husky suddenly recite two lines of poetry under the moon It's easy to scare people, you know?"
Lily gave Hao Ren a blank look, and patted her belly: "I'm full. That's why I was inspired. Most of my works were written while I was full."
A group of people just walked and chatted all the way. The Archbishop of Auburn, who was leading the way, was able to keep his eyes straight throughout the whole process. This bald man with a face full of bullets was as serious as a wooden man, and he did not show any personal emotions to the foreigner behind him. It wasn't until he led the crowd to a small-scale monastery-like building attached to a cathedral that he stopped and reminded Hao Ren: "This is where the tattooing ceremony is held and priests are trained. There are twenty people in the whole city. It is the honor of many priests to be able to carry out the tattooing ceremony in the capital of two places like this."
Seriously, the Archbishop of Auburn explained a few more words thoughtfully.
Then he knocked lightly on the door of the priory, and called out the priest on duty to give him a few words. Then he stepped forward: "Come on, a new believer is receiving the tattoo, you can see how a mortal accepts the blessing of the goddess and becomes the spokesperson of theocracy."
Everyone walked into the monastery and saw the bright lights inside.
The Hui Yao Sect has a very large scale, with countless clergymen, and "stabbing" is a ritual that even the most basic priests must perform. Therefore, people in these small monasteries receive this blessing almost all the time. The newly promoted priests study the holy scriptures and learn all kinds of mysterious knowledge in these small monasteries. Receive a series of training and tests, and once they meet certain "standards", they will be selected for tattooing in the chapel of the monastery. After the tattoo, they are eligible to enter the cathedral to meet the pope and assume various teaching positions.
In the brightly lit chapel of the monastery. A sacred and eerie ritual is underway. Hao Ren and the others were brought into the scene by a side door, and the Archbishop of Auburn signaled them to keep quiet. Just watch quietly.
In the middle of the room was a thick leather mat with a diameter of more than two meters. The mat was covered with incomprehensible mysterious symbols with light golden paint, some of which were Leta runes, and the rest were Whilta runes. Want ancient and powerful ancient runes. These powerful symbols shimmered, constantly projecting some vague words in the air. And a young monk wearing a linen robe is lying in the center of the round cushion. He is the newcomer who received the tattoo today. Standing around this young man are three elderly priests. Each of these three priests is holding a heavy scripture, and they are reciting the most sacred sentence in it softly—that is, the most incomprehensible sentence. of those chapters.
The tattooing ceremony seems to have started when three teachers organized a group to wipe out an unlucky student.
The young monk noticed unexpected strangers entering the scene, even the Archbishop of Auburn. Subconsciously nervous, the Archbishop of Auburn shook his head at him. He quickly restrained himself and returned to the ceremony.
After reciting a scripture, an old priest put the scripture on the young monk's chest: "Pierre Raymond, servant who is favored by the goddess, do you have a strong mind to see through all the evil deceptions in the world, Do you have a firm belief that you can follow all the teachings of the goddess, and do you have a strong will to face all the difficulties and obstacles you need to face in fulfilling your mission?"
"I swear in the name of the goddess, I will follow the path appointed by him with my life."
"Then you will accept the holy blood, it is the fine wine given by the goddess, it will cleanse your soul as a mortal, so that you can hear the voice of God from now on, practice the greatest justice in this world, and it will also test you If there is a shadow in your heart, it will be swallowed by the shadow. Pierre Raymond, now silently recite the name of God, and you will be promoted."
Lily watched the ceremony in progress, and suddenly muttered: "Why does it look like a cult scene..."
When Hao Ren heard this, he quickly covered the girl's mouth: those few seconds just now, the literary young woman was indeed a hallucination, so he couldn't relax his vigilance against this bastard for a moment! The husky's problem of talking without thinking has not been beaten to death so far. It's just because of its fate, right
But in fact, Hao Ren is not qualified to talk about others: his mouth is not much stronger, in fact, what Lily muttered was just the thoughts that were circling in his mind at this time...
Fortunately, the sound here was so low that even Auburn, who was standing nearest, couldn't hear it. And in the center of the room, the tattooing ceremony has been carried out to the final step.
A servant boy sent a light golden "magic weapon" to the old priest who presided over the ceremony. It was a weird long-necked container, half of which was made of gold, and the other half was transparent glass. In the glass shell, it can be seen that there is a blood-like liquid sloshing inside.
The old priest pointed the tip of the container at the forehead of the young monk who received the "stamp", and then pressed down gently: "May you be accepted by God."
There was a hollow needle tube at the tip of the container, which pierced the skin of the baptized person, and the blood-colored liquid in the container immediately began to emit a faint light, and was injected into the young monk's body along the needle tube.
Almost at the same time, the round mat filled with mysterious symbols was full of light, and the ancient runes with various functions were activated one by one, and began to assist the ceremony, while the whole body of the baptized person suddenly tensed, and there were traces of thin golden-red threads The small hole pierced by the needle spread along his forehead, as if the blood vessels under the skin were swelling one by one. A suppressed growl came from the young monk's throat, and his whole body trembled violently as if struck by lightning.
Something powerful was changing the structure of his body—especially the structure of his brain.
The whole process lasted for a few minutes, and then everything subsided, and the young monk successfully completed the "blessing". He sat up sweating profusely, and when he opened his eyes again, there seemed to be a strange gleam in them.
"The voice of the goddess is echoing in my mind..." the young monk said incredulously.
"This is the tattooing ceremony," the voice of the Archbishop of Auburn woke Hao Ren up, "the holy blood will bestow extraordinary power on this young man, he will be able to use the magic that only the baptized can master, and from then on Hearing the voice of the Goddess in my head."
"What's in that bottle?" Vivienne's voice was unusually serious, "I feel it's very familiar... It's like the 'origin blood' flowing out of the eldest son's body."
Archbishop Auburn was silent for a while, his voice was low: "When I first learned about the 'Eldest Son', some people in the church did speculate like this, which even caused a little panic, but we have already found out from the manuscript found in the second sacred cave, that Not the 'Original Blood' of the eldest son, but the blood of the more ancient and sacred Root... ”
Hao Ren suddenly realized what it was: "It's a sample of the first seed." (To be continued~^~)