CHAPTER 716: CHAPTER 199: BISHOP (SEEKING MONTHLY TICKETS)_2

After giving a reminder and waiting for the other person to wake up, the priest said in a very humble tone, "Elder Demi! It’s time to awake!"

Elder Demi rolled out of bed, mumbling something about "praising my Lord" several times before he opened his eyes and looked at the priest somewhat reproachfully, "Damn it, Elran, how many times have I said this? When you come in, you must press the doorbell promptly. It’s a matter of courtesy! And what’s this about waking up? You interrupted my confession just now. Damn it, if you dare to barge in next time without knocking, I’ll take off my boot and kick your ass hard."

His expression was serious, putting on an air that he had not been slacking off by sleeping but had been devotedly praising in his dreams.

"I’m sorry, Elder, I will correct it next time!" Elran hurriedly said.

"You should ask the Lord for forgiveness, not me! What is it?"

"The high-level Prosecutor, Xu Shu, that the bishop spoke of has arrived."

"...Why didn’t you say so earlier! Alright, get out now."

Elder Demi glared with bulging eyes and dismissed the guiding Priest Elran. Once the latter had closed the door, he turned to Xu Shu with a benign smile, "Hello, my name is Demi Kangkilu, the Three-Pattern Priest in charge of guarding the Holy Court entrance this week. The Judgement Department has been waiting for you for a long time. Come with me."

Xu Shu didn’t quite know what to say for a moment; it was clear that Elder Demi was not a local, probably from the Western War Zone.

Although he was using the current common language of Earth Star, his accent was slightly odd.

Finally, Xu Shu said succinctly, "Okay, thank you," and followed him.

"My spoken language is very poor; I hope you won’t mind it too much." Elder Demi noticed Xu Shu’s slight expression and explained.

Xu Shu nodded, wondering, ’Three-Pattern Priest’? Does that mean a third-rank clergyman?

Isn’t a third-rank ’Shepherd’ called a Red Archbishop? Why doesn’t he just call himself XX Archbishop, but instead uses such a strange title as Three-Pattern Priest?

Since everyone was rather unfamiliar, Xu Shu felt it wasn’t appropriate to ask outright and remained silent, but there was one thing he needed to understand clearly.

Elder Demi took out a key to unlock the large iron door behind him, and Xu Shu took the opportunity to ask, "What does it mean to guard the Holy Court?"

Elder Demi answered offhandedly, "It seems Gilbert hasn’t told you everything. The Holy Court is a joint tribunal of the Sun, Moon, and Star churches. It’s not here; it’s underground. Come with me; he will explain the details to you himself."

"Oh."

Xu Shu nodded, then remembered a minor detail.

Yu Mingluan had a Western name: Gilbert Tyson, but he had never mentioned it. Instead, it was Xu Shu who learned of it through the "Heavenly Eye" during their first meeting on the Journey mode.

He faintly remembered that at that time, the Archbishop was a burly man with a long beard like a Bearded Man. Xu Shu initially thought he would roll up his sleeves and brandish a sixty-two-pound Zen Staff to smash people. Strangely enough, at later meetings, his demeanor had drastically changed, and he became gentler in appearance, like a qualified Priest.

Very strange...

As he pondered this, Xu Shu followed Father Demi into a very luxuriously decorated long corridor.

Many doors lined both sides of the corridor, each lavishly decorated with diamonds of various sizes.

Xu Shu’s assessment was that it was flashy but impractical—the diamonds could be artificially made and were not as valuable as gold. Even to this day, ’Alchemists’ still could not transmute other substances into gold; they could only extract it from ores containing gold.

After arriving at the last side door with special symbols and a large, brick-shaped indentation, Elder Demi said, "Step back."

After saying so, he waved his hands and chanted. A chilly breeze began to swirl around him, and he seemed to grow a bit pained, while the side door began to buzz, slowly opening.

Xu Shu frowned slightly, feeling a sense stirred within him, and instinctively activated "Spiritual Vision."

In the blurry void, two ’people’ nearly three meters tall, made entirely of smooth white bones, appeared to be pushing a stone like giants, struggling with the door in front of them.

The door seemed to be very tight; the expressions of the two Bone Giants grew quite ferocious as they exerted all their strength, managing to open less than a centimeter in a minute’s effort.

Seemingly noticing Xu Shu’s gaze, both Bone Giants paused, slowly turning their heads to look at him, the fires of spirit in their eyes flickering a greasy green.

"..." Xu Shu also silently watched the two Bone Giants.

"..." The two Bone Giants just silently observed him back.

The standoff lasted for several long minutes.

Until Elder Demi, wheezing, shouted, "What are you doing? Why have you stopped pushing? Why aren’t you pushing? Push!"

Then, the two Bone Giants returned their gaze and continued their laborious task.

"Elder Demi, you... you’re not a Red Archbishop? You’re a... gatekeeper?"

Xu Shu’s forehead showed a question mark. This ability, he almost didn’t need to ask—it was too obvious, not that of a "Red Archbishop," but of a "Spirit Communicator" at Stage Three, a "gatekeeper."

Xu Shu had once encountered a Transcendent of this path, the Chief Maid of Su Ji Herrera’s Three Corpses, who was a Stage Two "Necromancer" of that pathway.

Could it be that even the Cultists had infiltrated the headquarters of the Dawn Church?

And had the head of the Judgement Bureau, Bai Sanxiang, also turned traitor?

Xu Shu was suddenly alarmed and reached into his crotch, prepared to rub out a Chasing Sun Golden Spear for self-protection.