Chapter 342 - 252: The Church Is in for Big Trouble

Chapter 342: Chapter 252: The Church Is in for Big Trouble

Constantinople. The Imperial Palace. The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the corridors once again.

Only this time, they were even more frantic than before.

He stumbled to where the Emperor was, fell to his knees, and prostrated himself. "Your Majesty!" he said, his voice laced with terror. "The High Priest... his operation... it’s failed..."

"Failed?"

The old Emperor was somewhat taken aback.

"So quickly?"

The old Emperor wasn’t surprised that the High Priest had failed.

While the Consciousness Space wasn’t an Ancient Dragon’s home turf, a creature with such a long life was bound to possess an incredibly powerful mind.

Otherwise, the long march of time would have consumed its very being.

A single High Priest would have great difficulty controlling such a powerful will on his own.

Moreover, Zog was the most peculiar of all known Ancient Dragons.

A Legendary figure who had once shaken the Continent, he had one day suddenly decided he was done with it all.

To simply stop sounds easy, but it’s never that simple to achieve. That’s why so many gamblers end up losing their fortunes.

Yet Zog had vanished just as he said he would, not appearing for decades, as if he had overcome the violent instincts of a Red Dragon.

When he reappeared, it was with the Zog Group, which had started selling toys.

If anyone had suggested such a thing before it happened, they would have been laughed out of the room.

And yet, it did happen. Zog’s business grew stronger and stronger, creating one form of cultural entertainment after another.

His consciousness was, without a doubt, both powerful and bizarre.

This was the consensus among the Soul Ascenders. Making Zog part of the great consciousness had been a goal they’d been discussing for the past year.

They had never acted on it, however. The Soul Ascenders had run all sorts of scenarios and simulations for capturing his consciousness, and their conclusion was that the probability of success was bleak.

Thus, the plan had been shelved indefinitely.

Until this impulsive High Priest took matters into his own hands.

His lack of success was consistent with their simulations.

But to fail so quickly was far beyond their expectations.

The old Emperor glanced at the grandfather clock by the bookshelf. With its intricate design and jeweled construction, it was more a work of art than a timepiece.

The time was a quarter past ten at night.

Only ten minutes had passed since the High Priest began his operation.

No matter how incompetent this High Priest might have been, he was still one of the top-ranking Soul Ascenders—an expert at bewitching minds and laying traps within the world of consciousness.

’How could he have failed so quickly?’

’What in the world is going on inside Zog’s head?’

"Did he determine success was impossible and abort the operation early? I need his explanation."

This was the only reason the old Emperor could conceive of for such a swift failure.

"Your Majesty, I don’t believe the High Priest aborted the mission voluntarily. Besides, he’s in no condition to explain anything now. He’s gone completely mad."

"What?"

The old Emperor could no longer hide the astonishment on his face. His graying beard trembled slightly as he commanded, "Summon all the Bishops. Emergency meeting."

The Mammon Sect, also known as the Soul Ascenders, was constantly changing its name. Due to their radical beliefs, they always needed to find new disguises.

Their current disguise as the Mammon Sect was because they had, in fact, formed a partnership with the Mammon of old.

The old Emperor, in addition to being the current ruler of the Loman Empire, was also the Shepherd Leader of the Mammon Sect.

However, the Shepherd Leader of the sect did not enjoy the same supreme authority within his organization as the Pope did within the Church.

The Soul Ascenders were a loose-knit organization. Its members cooperated simply because they shared a common goal. The elected Shepherd Leader was more of an honorary title, a moderator who brought all parties together when a matter required joint discussion.

As they were a group dedicated to pursuing Soul Ascension, their meetings were naturally not held in physical space.

The old Emperor connected to his personal consciousness host.

The new generation of hosts no longer required long needles piercing the brain; the obsolete older models were passed down to lower-ranking Soul Ascenders.

The meeting took place in a space crafted to resemble the surface of an ocean. The boundless, deep water helped the old Emperor focus.

The other Bishops had already arrived. He cleared his throat twice and said, "Just a moment ago, the High Priest stationed in the Royal City of the Sutton Kingdom infiltrated Zog’s consciousness in an attempt to capture it. The attempt ended in failure."

The handful of Bishops showed little reaction.

"He shouldn’t have acted without authorization. Did you call us all to a meeting just for one reckless Priest?" one of the Bishops said impatiently. "I have experiments to run."

The old Emperor continued his report, unperturbed. "This Priest failed within ten minutes. We are currently unable to retrieve the memories of his final moments and will require all of your help. This is his current state."

With a wave of his hand, the old Emperor projected an image of the Priest onto the surface of the water.

He lay prone, his body twitching erratically. His eyes could not focus, and his mouth hung open, endlessly repeating some muffled gibberish.

The Bishops fell silent. They had never seen anyone end up like this after a failed consciousness capture.

There was no record of such a thing in the annals of the Soul Ascenders.

Everyone could sense the chaos in the Priest’s consciousness. The level of turmoil likely surpassed that of a collective consciousness formed from tens of thousands of madmen.

’What in the world did he see inside Zog’s mind?’

Whatever it was, this Red Dragon was far more bizarre than they had ever imagined.

But the Soul Ascenders had always been a pack of mad Adventurers and ambitious schemers.

The Bishops’ interest was piqued. Remnants of Zog’s memories had to be lingering somewhere within the Priest’s consciousness.

"What is he repeating?" one Bishop asked, noticing the Priest’s incessant muttering.

The words were muffled, indistinct.

"It’s a warning for us," the old Emperor replied. "’Do not make contact.’ That’s what he keeps repeating. ’Do not make contact.’"