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The life expectancy of an average person was about tens of years.

After a rank up, the life expectancy would increase as the realm increased. However, there was still a limit to it.

In history, there was once a thousand-year-old man who was at the pinnacle of the saint realm, but he only managed to get that far.

This was the limit of mankind, unlike some species that could live for tens of thousands of years.

Only by stepping into the realm of gods and comprehending the principles of the world could one break this limit and gain immortality.

This was of course extremely difficult.

No gods had been born in this world yet. Even when looking at the beings who were closest to being considered gods, there were no humans among them.

At most, the humans were only at the pinnacle of the saint realm.

The Pope of the Luminous Theocracy, too, was at the pinnacle of the saint realm and he had lived for more than six hundred years.

He already felt that he was running out of time and could only live for a few more years at most.

Even if he could extend his life, it was still a great challenge that would consume countless valuable resources.

Thus, he wasn’t willing to extend his life. Instead, he used these resources to train the younger generation because he knew that the future would ultimately lie in their hands.

And this was the source of conflict between the Pope and several great Cardinals.

One party placed his trust in the younger generation while the other party felt that the younger generation would tend to err.

Both parties were not wrong, it was a matter of perspective. But this gave rise to countless internal conflicts in the nation that seemed peaceful on the surface for the past several decades.

People appeared to be united, but they were divided at heart since long ago.

The Pope’s hands were tied too. He could only hope that his successor, Saintess Thea, would quickly grow up and take charge before his passing.

It could be said that Thea was the Pope’s hope. He would fight anyone who dared to lay a finger on her down to his last breath!

Even if the Pope had no intention of extending his life, living for more than six hundred years itself was already a rare achievement. Even fewer had been in his position, reigning over a nation for a few centuries.

For this reason, he had a very extensive knowledge and also countless absurd experiences.

He initially thought that aside from Thea, nothing could possibly stir up any emotions in his heart.

Yet within the past twenty-four hours, the Pope, who had lived for more than six hundred years, experienced something so absurd that he had never experienced in his entire life.

The Radiant Goddess’ statue was ruined by two little brats. And because of the oath he made, he couldn’t do anything other than watching them escape.

Now, the most prosperous food street in the heart of Aeria had suddenly vanished and a huge sinkhole was left in its place. Through the measurement of magic elements, the culprit, or one of the culprits that created the sinkhole…

Was Thea.

Could anything be more absurd than this?

The criminals who destroyed the goddess statue were Thea’s friends.

Traces of Thea using magic at the mysteriously disappeared street were detected.

Everything seemed to be connected. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had watched Thea growing up and was convinced of her firm belief in the goddess, he would have thought that she was undergoing apostasy.

It was at this moment, that he encountered something that couldn’t be any more ridiculous.

“Hey, old man, are you listening to me?” Lilith was boldly seated on a chair in the center of the sanctuary, speaking rudely to the most honorable Pope while paying no mind to the surrounding priests and knights.

Lilith brought the chair here herself. It was extremely lavish, almost like a mini-sized throne.

Thea stood behind her with her head hung low, looking like a married woman who did something wrong.

Since Sae was over exhausted and had received a shock on top of that, she had retired to the broken dagger to rest.

The saint-level experts in the surrounding had rushed up to tear Lilith into pieces before the Pope could even give them any direction.

The Pope fell silent for a long time, wondering to himself if the girl got hit by a car when she went out or got kicked in the head by a donkey for her to be walking right into the trap herself.

Did she not know that blasphemy against the goddess was a crime so severe that she could be burnt on the stake and die a hundred times?

“Why have you come? Did you walk right into the trap or are you here to repent for the heinous crime that you have committed?” The Pope asked Lilith.

Instead of answering his question, Lilith questioned him back, “Do you think you’re a reasonable old man?”

Uncertain of the intention behind Lilith’s question, the Pope thought for a while before replying, “Yes.”

“Great,” Lilith exclaimed in excitement, “I came for a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” The Pope was baffled.

Lilith pulled Thea in front of her and said, “I want Thea to renounce her faith.”

“EHHH???!!!”

Everyone in the hall was shocked at her request.

“Wait a minute, Lilith! I never said anything about renouncing my faith!”

Thea panicked and Lilith instantly knocked her out with a chop on the side of her neck.

“Rest well, I’ll definitely rescue you from this evil cult,” Lilith assured her unconscious friend.

“B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲! What did you do to the saintess!”

“How dare this heretic do something like that to our saintess and even demand for her to renounce her faith! Don’t even think about walking out of this place today!”

The people in the surrounding were riled up. Their terrifying auras could almost cause the entire sanctuary to crumble.

“SILENCE!”

The Pope slapped on the armrest hard and the hall instantly fell silent. The powerful auras that had gathered in the room were instantly dispersed by his bellow.

The Pope glared at Lilith and asked solemnly, “Do you have any idea what you are talking about?”

“Of course.”

“Do you know the consequences of your words?”

“Of course I do.”

He narrowed his eyes, unable to tell what was going through the head of this cute little petite girl.

It seemed like this little girl named Lilith was truly capable of swaying him.

Even so, this was the only matter that he couldn’t compromise.

He couldn’t afford to lose Thea no matter what!

“What is your intention?” he asked.

Lilith helped Thea to sit next to her then said, “Nothing in particular. Didn’t you say that you’re a very reasonable old man? I’m here to reason with you.”

The Pope said nothing.

Lilith looked around and said, “The fewer people know about this the better. Let them leave first.”

“…Fine.” The Pope waved his hand, “You’re all dismissed.”

“But the saintess…”

“Don’t worry. She can’t do anything when I’m around.”

The crowd had no choice but to retreat from the room.

The Pope redirected his gaze back at Lilith and sat back solemnly. “Alright, enlighten me.”

Lilith nodded. A scroll slowly floated up from her hand.

The scroll was different from any other scrolls that she used before. Floating stars that seemed illusory wrapped around it. They would disappear from your sight the harder you tried to look at them.

The Pope had never been this solemn, because he could sense a power that was out of this world. “This scroll is…”

“It’s a very normal scroll, but it contains a demigod level magic,” she explained.

Her tone was as casual as telling the Pope to look at how huge and white the radish that she had planted at her house was.

“A demigod level magic?!” The Pope was shocked, despite that, he had obviously sensed a trace of law imbued in it.

The little girl wasn’t tricking him.

Lilith smiled sweetly and said, “This is my reason. If you won’t allow Thea to renounce her faith, then I shall blow up the entire Luminous Theocracy.”