Unlike Chen Miemie’s cold expression, Moretti’s face was full of smiles.
“I wondered who it was. So it’s Mr. Chen Mie Mie, representative of the Hengyue clan. Your arrival truly brings honor to the church.”
His reaction was rather different from what Chen Miemie had expected.
“You seem quite happy to see me.”
“Of course I am. This is the Moon Church, devoted to the Three Moons. Members of the Hengyue clan are one of our own, so naturally you’re more than welcome.”
After just two exchanges, Chen Miemie realized that trying to go in circles with a church bishop whose conversational skills were fully maxed out would only bring him trouble. So he changed tactics.
“Do you know why I’m here today?”
Moretti shook his head. “If it were anyone else in this city, I would assume they harbored hostility toward me and had come here looking for trouble. But I’m not sure where you stand.”
“I’m here to look for trouble too.” Chen Miemie made his position perfectly clear.
“Oh? What sort of trouble does Mr. Chen Mie Mie wish to find? I’m all ears.” Moretti’s smile faded.
“You already know that you’ve drawn the hostility of every major power in the city. Do you really need me to spell it out? I took you for a clever man, but you’re still pretending not to understand.”
“No, I’m not pretending. I truly don’t understand. If I’ve done something wrong, then please point it out directly. I’m eager to hear your explanation.”
“Fine, then let me ask you. You require patients who come here to offer their blood, which you use to make ‘Rainbow Light Brew.’ It treats them while also making them addicted, allowing you to control the populace and harvest their faith. Is that true?”
Moretti thought for a moment. “Although your wording is somewhat derogatory and includes a few assumptions, the objective portion is largely accurate.”
“Since you admit it, how can you still refuse to acknowledge that you’re using treatment as a pretext to make people addicted, holding public opinion hostage, and exploiting their faith?”
Moretti did not argue. “Mr. Chen Mie Mie, you and I stand at opposite ends of this issue. In your eyes, anything I say will probably sound like sophistry. Instead, why don’t you sit beside me and watch me receive two patients? You can see everything with your own eyes. How does that sound?”
“Fine.”
And so Chen Miemie took a seat beside Moretti.
The attendant announced, “Next.”
A new patient entered the small room.
He was a middle-aged man dressed plainly. His clothes were dull in color and had clearly been washed many times, having already begun to fade.
“Bishop, my child has broken his leg. It’s a compound fracture. I hope you can help us.”
Moretti smiled gently at the man. “Please, sit down.”
Once the man had taken his seat, Moretti spoke directly.
“This is your first visit, so before we discuss treatment, I must explain the conditions.
“My treatment is connected to my [Mystery]. The patient must contribute blood, which is then fused with moonlight to produce a brew. Drinking it can heal you, but it will also gradually become addictive. After coming here for treatment three times, you will become completely addicted.
“Those who become addicted must believe in the Rainbow Moon and come here regularly to have their blood made into brew, in order to ease their hunger and thirst. This is an extremely serious side effect, and you must understand it clearly.”
The man became agitated. “I know. I know all about it. My neighbors told me before I came. My child and I are both willing.”
Moretti reminded him once again, “You’re trapped in pain right now and are desperately seeking any possible treatment. I suggest you try other methods first. If they don’t work, come back to me.”
“No, there’s no need. Bishop Moliti, please save my child.”
“Go home and think it over for two days. Take a look at the people around you who have become addicted. If you’re truly certain of your decision, bring your child to the church in three days.”
“Thank you, Bishop!”
The man hurried out of the room, overjoyed.
Chen Miemie remained silent throughout.
Soon, the second patient entered.
She was an elderly woman who walked with trembling steps, leaning on a cane.
“Greetings, Bishop Moliti.” The old woman gave a slight bow.
“Please, sit down.”
After the old woman sat, Moretti spoke. “If I remember correctly, this isn’t your first visit.”
“No, it isn’t. I came here two months ago. I’m old, so all sorts of ailments have caught up with me. My heart condition flared up last night, and I nearly didn’t make it to dawn.”
“Ma’am, you should know what I’m about to say.”
“I do. I understand the explanation given before treatment. I know that the blood brew is addictive. I’ve received the grace of the blood light, and even if it had no addictive effect, I would willingly believe in the Rainbow Moon.”
“Very good. Then I’ll draw your blood. Please extend your arm.”
Moretti used a blood-drawing device to take a vial of blood from her artery, then stopped.
“Ma’am, you may come to collect your Rainbow Light Brew tomorrow evening or the morning after.”
“Thank you, Bishop. Praise the Rainbow Moon.”
The old woman bowed again before leaving the room.
After watching both patients, Chen Miemie and Moretti resumed their conversation.
“So, Bishop Moliti, what you wanted me to see was that you make these disclosures beforehand, proving that you act openly and honestly, and that the people come here of their own free will?”
Moretti shook his head.
“No. What I wanted you to see wasn’t their ‘free will,’ but their ‘unwillingness.’
“Mr. Chen Mie Mie, do you really think that just because they say they don’t care about becoming addicted, they truly don’t care?
“How could they? People aren’t fools.
“If they know there are side effects, then as long as they have any other choice, who would choose this kind of treatment?
“Would any father willingly let his child become addicted? Would an old woman of such an advanced age suddenly develop a genuine faith? Of course not.
“They’re clearly ‘unwilling,’ yet they still come here. They even have to say things against their own hearts, pretending that they’re volunteering and pretending to be devout.”
Chen Miemie was silent for a long while before asking, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“The Rainbow Light Brew isn’t actually as miraculous as people think. It can’t cure terminal illnesses or restore flesh to bare bones. At most, it’s comparable to the treatment offered by an ordinary clinic.
“People come here for treatment not because I possess exceptional medical skills, but because they can’t afford treatment anywhere else and have already been driven into a corner.
“In the end, what the Rainbow Light Brew cures is nothing more than the disease of poverty.
“Whether it’s faith or manipulation and coercion, they offer up the only bargaining chip they possess—something they cannot turn into money anywhere else—in exchange for the hope of preserving their lives.
“That is their true ‘free will.’”
Moretti continued:
“Every major power in the city is hostile toward me. Mr. Chen Mie Mie, what do you think they’re afraid of?
“Are they really afraid that I’ll gather a group of ordinary citizens and cause trouble?
“What a joke. This is a world of [Mysteries]. No matter how many ordinary citizens there are, how much military force could they possibly possess? Who could they threaten?
“The so-called powers are the people who already stand high above everyone else. They don’t need to trade blood for their lives. They eat delicacies at every meal, and when they fall ill, they receive the finest medical care.
“What they fear is that I’ll allow people at the bottom to enjoy the same quality of treatment as they do.
“Besides, there’s something about you I can’t understand, Mr. Chen Mie Mie.”
“Oh? What is it you can’t understand?”
“The powerful figures of Six-Image City are hostile toward me because they fear I’ll control the public, guide public opinion, and manipulate faith.
“But the problem is that even if I harbor malicious intentions, I haven’t actually begun to act on them. As long as I haven’t truly done anything, it remains only a possibility.
“To treat someone as a criminal simply because they might commit evil—that conforms neither to the law nor to logic.
“So, what they really care about isn’t whether any actual wrongdoing has taken place. They care about whether the power is in their own hands and whether it can be controlled.
“And in their eyes, I’m someone they cannot control.”
“The same goes for you, Mr. Chen Mie Mie. You represent a new species, which is just as far beyond their control. Right now, it’s only because the species behind you is powerful and hasn’t shown any weaknesses. But the day you decline, you and I will be treated the same way.
I might be able to control my followers, and you might likewise be able to manipulate anomalies into committing evil deeds. Even if you never actually do so, as long as the threat exists, it’s all the same to them.
“So when you criticize me, you’re criticizing yourself as well.”
Chen Miemie: ...
As expected, not a single bishop in the Church was a pushover.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
