Xis condensed a suit of faith armour on his body without using the Bible. The armour radiated holy light, seemingly indestructible. He also wielded a slender yet heavy longspear. His body appeared fat and powerless, but swinging that spear carried terrifying menace. This was a weapon condensed from faith power. In the hands of a believer, it was light as a feather, but when striking an enemy, it weighed thousands of pounds.
Roaring from his mouth, he charged at Ye Chui.
Ye Chui immediately used [Spark Annihilation] to attack him. This spell, derived from the shotgun in Terminator, went bang! bang! bang! bang! in rapid shots. Flames flashed. Ye Chui advanced step by step towards Xis, forcing him to retreat constantly. The armour on his body quickly began to disintegrate.
Xis swung his longspear with a hum and hurled it at Ye Chui. Ye Chui’s body flickered, using [Divine Might Void] to dodge the thrown spear. At that moment, beneath the face hidden by the holy armour, ferocity appeared. It was the ruthlessness forged from his pirate life. He shouted loudly, arms crossed over his chest. Holy brilliance shone dazzlingly. The shattered armour swiftly restored itself.
But when vision cleared, Ye Chui had a flying magic missile shouldered and aimed at him. Boom! A terrifying explosion instantly engulfed Xis’s body. Accompanied by a muffled groan and scream, Bishop Xis’s holy armour shattered at once. Even his clothes became tattered, revealing the body beneath covered in densely carved scriptures.
“Pretty cool tattoos.” Ye Chui discarded the flying magic missile, extended his right hand forward, and activated [Arsenal of the King]. Weapons emerged densely before him, all aimed at Bishop Xis.
With Ye Chui’s current strength, facing a red-robed archbishop would be very difficult. Back then, defeating Eliza required various tricks. In the end, he sacrificed a flying magic vehicle to blast him into the realm of the undead, barely resolving the threat. But against Bishop Xis, Ye Chui had sufficient confidence.
The next moment, dense firepower suppression rained continuously on Bishop Xis.
The bullets from those magically modified weapons were condensed from magic, but their lethality was no less than real ones. Bishop Xis instantly endured layers of bullet baptism. Blood flowers bloomed across his body.
Yet his wounds healed at an astonishing speed.
Under Ye Chui’s firepower, his body soon retreated to a wall in the sacred hall. His bloodstained face revealed a ferocious cold smile. “As rumoured, truly powerful. But you are no match for me…” As he spoke, a strange change occurred in his body. Or rather, in the tattoos. Those dense scriptures seemed to come alive, wriggling. They rapidly crawled off his body and onto the surrounding walls.
Those blood-coloured scripture tattoos were originally tiny characters. But as they climbed the walls, they grew larger. In an instant, they covered every corner of the room’s walls, ceiling, floor, windows, even the terrifying sculpture. Before the door, the characters climbed into the void, forming a layer of eerie barrier at the entrance.
At this point, Debbie and the others had already engaged the Church followers and witch attendants, fighting their way out of the sacred hall. Only Ye Chui, Fiorre, and Bishop Xis remained inside. Guni, standing outside the hall entrance, saw the scripture seal appear at the door. She instinctively swung her greatsword at it, but her body was repelled by a great force.
In almost the blink of an eye, every corner of the sacred hall was sealed by the scriptures.
“Ye Chui… what… happened…” The miniature magic sound in Ye Chui’s ear became intermittent, then vanished completely.
The tattoos were gone from Bishop Xis’s body. He had become a pale, fat man. Ye Chui’s firepower had never ceased, but as Bishop Xis deployed this bizarre tattoo seal, Ye Chui found his attacks landing on Xis like punches into cotton. There was no solid impact!
“This is my [Faith Cage]!” Bishop Xis stood by the wall, smiling as he spoke. Though he stood there, Ye Chui felt his voice coming from all directions, layered and elusive. Bishop Xis continued, “Though I am only an archbishop, these years fighting at sea have honed my faith in the divine. I long ago qualified to become a red-robed archbishop. I only lack the merit of conquering the Tidal Empire and receiving divine blessing. My realm remains archbishop, but my power already matches or exceeds a red-robed archbishop!”
The Church believers’ realms were divided into follower, bishop, archbishop, red-robed archbishop. Unlike swordsmen, magic mentors, or summoners, advancing as a believer required divine acknowledgement and blessing.
Receiving blessing demanded trials, known as merits. Xis conquering the Tidal Empire and bringing it under Church faith was such a merit. Eliza had also completed certain merits to become red-robed archbishop.
Blessing and realm advancement greatly enhanced control over faith power. But other methods could vastly increase strength before blessing, like Bishop Xis’s approach.
He was merely an archbishop, but by carving Bible scriptures into his body, fusing with the Bible, he could wield power like Eliza’s terrifying realm. No Bible needed, only words to exert force.
And [Faith Cage] was his powerful ultimate technique. Fusing his body scriptures with the environment, imprisoning Ye Chui within his faith. This was a domain attack. Now the sacred hall was his domain world. Here, he was invincible!
“I heard you defeated Eliza. But in my [Faith Cage], I will be several times more terrifying than Eliza. You are doomed!” Bishop Xis mocked coldly.
Ye Chui frowned, examining the blood-coloured scriptures on the surrounding walls. His body suddenly vanished, but reappeared in place the next moment, as if flickering briefly. He flickered several more times, confirming [Divine Might Void] could not let him leave.
Other space magics seemed ineffective too.
Magic sound devices could not connect outside.
Ye Chui then used [Arsenal of the King] to attack all directions. But his attacks touched the scripture walls and sank like into water, vanishing without trace.
Ye Chui soon stopped, realising something and adopting a wary stance.
Bishop Xis smiled coldly. The next moment, ripples appeared on the walls all around. Then Ye Chui’s previous attacks rebounded from the walls, shooting back at Ye Chui and Fiorre. Ye Chui rushed to Fiorre’s side, condensing several smooth [Ice Mirrors] around them to block the rebounding attacks.
“Rebounding attacks…” Ye Chui was secretly astonished. He knew how powerful his [Arsenal of the King] was. Even a powerful believer like Eliza could only resist, not perfectly counterattack Ye Chui. Yet this [Faith Cage] achieved flawless rebound!
“No, this is not rebound. In my [Faith Cage], time and space hold no meaning. The sword you throw needs no rebound. Under spatial distortion, it still flies straight back at you. This world is a cyclical, sealed one.” Bishop Xis said coldly with a smile. “Neither you nor Fiorre can destroy the [Faith Cage] with attacks. You will be trapped to death here!”
Ye Chui pondered briefly, waved his hand. “Roar—” The fierce and powerful Green Giant heroic spirit was summoned.
The huge green giant, like a maddened gorilla, pounded the ground on all fours, roaring as it charged the wall. But upon touching it, from the wall covered in blood-coloured scriptures, another red giant emerged like a shadow, counter-charging the green giant and clashing with it.
“Even summoning heroic spirits can be reflected?” Ye Chui felt some surprise. But he soon realised Bishop Xis had not fully mirrored a new green giant. Every attack and strike from the red giant drew power from the green giant itself. If the green giant punched the red one, the red could counter with equal force!
If Ye Chui ordered the green giant to stop, the red could not attack it.
Understanding this, Ye Chui immediately dismissed the green giant summon. The red giant vanished accordingly.
Ye Chui then played powerful background music, [Uneasy]. He wanted to use [Uneasy] to shatter Bishop Xis’s mind.
But when the terrifying magic sound rang out, Ye Chui first felt extreme discomfort. Fiorre clutched her ears tightly, showing pain. The [Uneasy] magic sound seemed to resonate in both their bodies, drilling into their souls, irresistible. Bishop Xis stood in the corner, face still smiling calmly.
Background music was useless too!
The melody rebounded as well.
“I heard you master magic mentor, swordsman, summoner, and believer abilities. It seems true. Unfortunately, my [Faith Cage] counters each ability perfectly. Your omnidirectional power is useless!” Bishop Xis mocked with a cold laugh.
Ye Chui fell silent, sensing the urgency. His methods seemed utterly ineffective here. What about summoning One-Punch Heroic Spirit? Its overwhelming power had always been Ye Chui’s trump card. That [Certain Kill] rule force could shatter any crisis with one punch. But this [Faith Cage] was truly fearsome. Ye Chui was unsure if one-punch power would rebound…
If it did, such terrifying attack could be fatal even grazing Ye Chui or Fiorre. He could not use it rashly!
In hesitation, Fiorre seemed to sense something. She suddenly stood and began dancing.
It was an ancient and mysterious dance.
Graceful movements, simple yet filled with inexplicable beauty.
“Fiorre?” Ye Chui was stunned. Starting a mysterious dance without warning—what for?
Fiorre’s expression held some confusion, as if she herself did not know what she was doing. Her body continued moving. Ye Chui instinctively wanted to knock her out, thinking Bishop Xis’s doing. But soon, Ye Chui noticed something and looked at the strange, terrifying wooden sculpture enshrined in the room.
Threads of power spread from it!
As Fiorre danced, blurry figures appeared around her. Those figures wore witch clan attire, varied in appearance, old and young. They joined Fiorre in the ancient, mysterious dance.
“This is…” Ye Chui looked astonished.
For the first time, tension appeared on Bishop Xis’s face.
Witch clan power lay in spiritual perception and prayer. Besides assisting ancestral god clans in controlling power, they possessed a miraculous prayer ability. Through dancing in the sacred hall, they could summon past witch clan leaders for guidance and ancestral wisdom. Witch phantom beasts were essentially collections of souls from each deceased witch clan leader.
After death, witch clan leaders became mysterious witch spirits, guiding empire and clan descendants.
This was prayer’s essence.
An ability every witch clan leader must master.
Now, under mysterious guidance, Fiorre began the prayer dance, summoning clan ancestors. Witch spirits emerged one after another. Bishop Xis’s face finally showed tension and fatigue.
These ancestral witch spirits did not attack the walls, but their presence alone pressured Bishop Xis immensely—as if countless players suddenly flooded a server, nearly bursting it.
Ye Chui’s heroic spirits were strictly items, unable to exert such pressure on Bishop Xis.
But… Fiorre soon showed fatigue. Her movements slowed. The summoned witch spirits stabilised at a certain number, far from enough to burst the [Faith Cage].
Ye Chui stood in the now somewhat crowded sacred hall, watching the dancing witch spirits. He vaguely understood: this was the sacred hall, resting place of witch clan ancestors. They sensed Fiorre’s plight and aided her. But Fiorre’s power was too weak to summon more.
Knowing the situation, Ye Chui thought of a solution.
“These witch clan ancestors count as undead too… Then, let me help them.”
Dynamic undead music then rang out.
[Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss], capable of summoning, transcending, and making undead irresistibly dance on graves!
